What's happening
This bill restricts state benefits and contracts for call center employers who move jobs from New York to foreign countries.
Why it matters
Creates significant financial penalties and public accountability for call center employers who move 30% or more operations from New York to another country. including a mandatory 100-day advance notice to the state and up to $10,000 per day in fines for failing to notify.
Forbids access to state grants, guaranteed loans, tax benefits, and other financial support for five years. for companies that off-shore call center jobs, and requires repayment of unamortized state benefits already received unless a waiver is granted for reasons like national security or preventing greater job loss.
Mandates that all state-contracted call center and customer service work be performed within New York. , phasing in the requirement over two years and immediately applying it to any new hires related to state contracts.
Protects workers’ access to state unemployment and retraining benefits. if their jobs are off-shored, but does not give employees the right to sue employers directly under this law—enforcement is left to state agencies.
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Who cares
Call center employers moving operations overseas
Covered employers would face 100-day advance notice requirements, penalties of up to $10,000 per day for notice violations, five years of ineligibility for state financial support and repayment requirements for previously received aid.
State contractors providing call center and customer service work
They would have to perform state-related work entirely in New York, with two years for existing out-of-state operations to comply and an immediate in-state requirement for new customer service hires on those contracts.
Call center workers
The bill would preserve access to unemployment compensation, disability payments and worker retraining or readjustment funds when their employers relocate overseas.
New York State labor commissioner and state agencies
They would have to track overseas relocations, circulate a semiannual employer list and enforce restrictions on financial support and the location of state-contracted work.
Headline styles
Protect Call Center Jobs
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
History
- Reported and committed to finance
- Print number 1804a
- Amend (t) and recommit to labor
- Referred to labor
- Reported and committed to finance
- 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.
Stop Call Center Outsourcing
In Assembly Committee · Labor · Sponsor Crystal Peoples-Stokes
Full text
3 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
1804--A
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 11, 2017
Introduced by Sens. KENNEDY, ADDABBO, AVELLA, STAVISKY, VALESKY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Labor -- recommitted to the Committee on Labor in accordance with Senate Rule 6, sec. 8 -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the labor law, in relation to enacting the "save New York call center jobs act of 2018"
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "save New York call center jobs act of 2018".
§ 2. The labor law is amended by adding a new article 21 to read as follows:
ARTICLE 21
SAVE NEW YORK CALL CENTER JOBS ACT Section 770. Definitions.
771. List of relocated call centers.
772. Grants, guaranteed loans and tax benefits.
773. Procurement contracts.
774. State benefits for workers.
775. No private right of action.
§ 770. Definitions. As used in this article:
1. The term "call center" means a facility or other operation whereby employees receive telephone calls or other electronic communication for the purpose of providing customer assistance or other service.
2. (a) The term "employer" means any business entity that employs fifty or more employees, excluding part-time employees; or fifty or more employees that in the aggregate work at least fifteen hundred hours per week, excluding overtime hours, for the purpose of staffing a call center.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00830-03-8
S. 1804--A 2
(b) The term "part-time employee" means an employee who is employed for an average of fewer than twenty hours per week or who has been employed for fewer than six of the twelve months preceding the date on which notice is required under this article.
§ 771. List of relocated call centers. 1. A call center employer that intends to relocate a call center, or one or more facilities or operating units within a call center comprising at least thirty percent of the call center's, or operating unit's, total volume when measured against the previous twelve month average call volume of operations or substantially similar operations, from New York state to a foreign country shall notify the commissioner at least one hundred days before such relocation.
2. A call center employer that violates subdivision one of this section shall be subject to a civil penalty not to exceed ten thousand dollars for each day of such violation, except that the commissioner may reduce such amount for just cause shown.
3. The commissioner shall compile a semiannual list of all call center employers that relocate a call center, or one or more facilities or operating units within a call center comprising at least thirty percent of the call center's total volume of operations, from New York state to a foreign country.
4. The commissioner shall distribute the list required in this section to all agencies in the state.
§ 772. Grants, guaranteed loans and tax benefits. 1. Except as provided in subdivision three of this section and notwithstanding any other provision of law, a call center employer that appears on the list described in section seven hundred seventy-one of this article shall be ineligible for any direct or indirect state grants, state guaranteed loans, tax benefits or other financial governmental support for a period of five years from the date such list is published.
2. Except as provided in subdivision three of this section and notwithstanding any other provision of law, a call center employer that appears on the list described in section seven hundred seventy-one of this article shall remit the unamortized value of any grant or guaranteed loans, or any tax benefits or other governmental support it has previously received to the commissioner. The provisions of this subdivision shall apply to grants, loans, tax benefits and financial governmental assistance that is received on or after the effective date of this article.
3. The commissioner, in consultation with the appropriate agency providing a loan or grant, may waive the requirement provided under subdivision two of this section if the employer demonstrates that such requirement would:
(a) threaten state or national security;
(b) result in substantial job loss in the state of New York; or
(c) harm the environment.
§ 773. Procurement contracts. The head of each state agency shall ensure that all state-business-related call center and customer service work be performed by state contractors or other agents or subcontractors entirely within the state of New York. State contractors who currently perform such work outside the state of New York shall have two years following the effective date of this article to comply with this section; provided, that if any such contractors which perform work outside this state adds customer service employees who will perform work on such contracts, those new employees shall immediately be employed within the state of New York.
S. 1804--A 3
§ 774. State benefits for workers. No provision of this article shall be construed to permit withholding or denial of payments, compensation, or benefits under any other state law, including but not limited to state unemployment compensation, disability payments or worker retraining or readjustment funds, to workers employed by employers that relocate to a foreign country.
§ 775. No private right of action. Nothing set forth in this article shall be construed as creating, establishing, or authorizing a private cause of action by an aggrieved person against an employer who has violated, or is alleged to have violated, any provision of this article.
§ 3. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after it shall have become a law.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the labor law, in relation to enacting the "save New York call center jobs act of 2018"
Purpose of bill
The purpose of this bill is to penalize companies that relocate call center jobs overseas by restricting their access to state contracts and loans.
Summary of provisions
The bill amends the labor law by adding Article 21. Under Section 771, a call center employer that intends to relocate a call center, or one or more facilities or operating units within a call center compromising at least thirty percent of the call centers, or operating unit's total volume when measured against the previous twelve month average call volume of operations or substantially similar operations, from New York State to a foreign country shall notify the commissioner at least one hundred days before such relocation.
A call center employer that violates subdivision one of this section shall be subject to a civil penalty not to exceed ten thousand dollars for each day of such violation, except that the commissioner may reduce such amount for just cause shown.
Justification
Over the past five years, the United States has lost at least 500,000 call center jobs as businesses have opted to relocate offshore. In addi- tion to limiting employment opportunities for struggling families, the use of foreign call centers present a number of security concerns with respect to protecting New Yorkers personal confidential information.
In an effort to combat unemployment in New York State, this bill holds companies that out--ounce jobs accountable. This legislation directs the commissioner to compile a semi-annual list of all call center employers in NYS that relocate jobs overseas and publicly discloses this informa- tion to all state agencies. Additionally, call center employers that appear on the list will be ineligible for state grants, guaranteed loans and tax benefits.
This measure gives companies throughout the state an incentive to support New York's workforce, as opposed to negligently shipping jobs abroad. In light of the current economic climate, it is fiscally irre- sponsible to continue to reward with taxpayer dollars and state subsi- dies, businesses that relocate jobs.
Prior legislative history
2012: S.6918 Referred to Labor/A.9809 Passed Assembly 2013-14: S.542A Referred to Labor 2015-16: S.757-A Referred to Labor, Amended, Reported and Committed to Finance/A3688-A Referred to Labor and Amended
Effective date
This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after it shall have become a law.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.