What's happening
This bill makes it easier for certain college employees to qualify for unemployment benefits if their job offers are contingent on enrollment, funding, or program changes.
Why it matters
Shifts the burden of proof to colleges and universities. to show that employees with contingent job offers (based on enrollment, funding, or program changes) actually have “reasonable assurance” of continued employment, making it harder for schools to deny unemployment benefits.
Prioritizes the contingent nature of academic employment. in unemployment decisions, acknowledging the reality that many adjuncts and other staff face ongoing uncertainty about whether their contracts will be renewed.
Prevents automatic denial of unemployment claims. based solely on employer-issued conditional offer letters, ensuring that such documents cannot be used as the main reason to disqualify workers from benefits.
Requires a case-by-case review of each unemployment claim. by weighing all evidence, which could lead to fairer outcomes for higher education employees whose job security depends on unpredictable factors.
Albany, before your first meeting.
Every bill that moved yesterday, summarized in a sentence and ranked by impact. The Albany Scorecard follows on Sundays.
Free. Unsubscribe in one click. Want alerts on specific bills? Create an account.
Who cares
Headline styles
Protect Adjuncts’ Unemployment Benefits
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
2 Co-sponsors
History
- Reported referred to ways and means
- Referred to labor
- Referred to labor
Full text
1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
4584
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 3, 2017
Introduced by M. of A. TITUS -- read once and referred to the Committee on Labor
AN ACT to amend the labor law, in relation to unemployment insurance benefits for professional employment by certain education institutions
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 "Higher Education Employment Protection 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.
§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD03014-01-7
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.