What's happening
The bill ensures adjunct professors at colleges and universities can receive unemployment benefits if their job offers are contingent on enrollment, funding, or program changes.
Why it matters
Strengthens job security for adjunct professors. by clarifying that if their employment offers are contingent (dependent on enrollment, funding, or program changes), they cannot be automatically denied unemployment benefits during periods between semesters.
Shifts the burden of proof to colleges and universities. to show that an adjunct has “reasonable assurance” of continued employment; without clear, unconditional offers, adjuncts will be presumed eligible for unemployment.
Requires a case-by-case evaluation. of each adjunct’s employment situation, emphasizing the uncertainty of contingent offers instead of relying on generic written notices from employers.
Addresses a common gap in unemployment protections. for precariously employed academic staff, potentially improving financial stability for thousands of adjunct faculty who often face unpredictable work schedules and income.
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Who cares
Adjunct professors and other covered college employees
The bill would presume they lack reasonable assurance of employment when an offer depends on enrollment, funding or programmatic changes, affecting their unemployment insurance claims.
Colleges and universities covered by the bill
Employers would bear the burden of providing sufficient documentation to overcome that presumption.
Unemployment insurance adjudicators
They would have to weigh each case’s full evidence, give primary weight to an offer’s contingent nature and not treat a conditional employment letter as prima facie evidence of reasonable assurance to deny a claim.
Headline styles
Unemployment Rights for Adjuncts
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
Assembly Member · Assembly District 25
3 Co-sponsors
History
- Referred to labor
- Referred to labor
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Unemployment for Adjunct Professors
In Senate Committee · Labor · Sponsor Jamaal Bailey
Full text
1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
1340
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 11, 2017
Introduced by M. of A. ROZIC, JENNE -- read once and referred to the Committee on Labor
AN ACT to amend the labor law, in relation to enacting the "adjunct professors' unemployment insurance fairness act"
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "adjunct professors' unemployment insurance fairness act".
§ 2. Subdivision 10 of section 590 of the labor law is amended by adding a new paragraph (d) to read as follows:
(d) In the case of colleges or universities assigned the North American industry classification code 611310 or 611210 for services performed in a principal, administrative, research or instructional capacity a person is presumed not to have reasonable assurance under an offer that is conditioned on enrollment, funding or programmatic changes. It is the employer's burden to provide sufficient documentation to overcome this presumption. Reasonable assurance must be determined on a case-by-case basis by the total weight of evidence rather than the existence of any one factor. Primary weight must be given to the contingent nature of an offer of employment based on enrollment, funding and program changes. Provided, however, that in any unemployment insurance proceeding a written letter from an employer to an employee which makes employment conditional shall not be prima facie evidence of reasonable assurance to be used to deny a claim for unemployment.
§ 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00404-01-7
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.