Bill Text: NY A00567 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Enacts the "New York call center jobs act"; requires prior notice of relocation of call center jobs from New York to a foreign country; directs the commissioner of labor to maintain a list of employers who move call center jobs; prohibits loans or grants.

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 86-11)

Status: (Passed) 2020-01-02 - APPROVAL MEMO.97 [A00567 Detail]

Download: New_York-2019-A00567-Amended.html


                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                         567--A
                               2019-2020 Regular Sessions
                   IN ASSEMBLY
                                       (Prefiled)
                                     January 9, 2019
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by  M.  of  A. L. ROSENTHAL, COLTON, PAULIN, ARROYO, BARRON,
          CARROLL, STECK, WALKER, RAMOS, ABINANTI, HYNDMAN,  JEAN-PIERRE,  DICK-
          ENS,  PEOPLES-STOKES,  SEAWRIGHT, RYAN, ORTIZ, DE LA ROSA, FAHY, BENE-
          DETTO, GLICK, PERRY, D'URSO, RAIA,  GARBARINO,  DINOWITZ,  RICHARDSON,
          OTIS,  GOTTFRIED,  ROZIC,  CUSICK,  SIMON,  WOERNER, MOSLEY, BUCHWALD,
          WALLACE, AUBRY,  BICHOTTE,  QUART,  GALEF,  STIRPE,  LUPARDO,  CRESPO,
          SANTABARBARA,   WILLIAMS,  M. L. MILLER,  WEPRIN,  B. MILLER,  TAYLOR,
          NORRIS, DAVILA, EPSTEIN, NIOU -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. ENGLE-
          BRIGHT, HEVESI, LENTOL, McDONOUGH, RODRIGUEZ, THIELE, WRIGHT  --  read
          once  and  referred  to  the  Committee on Ways and Means -- 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  "New  York
          call center jobs act"
          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may  be  cited  as
     2  the "New York call center jobs act".
     3    §  2.  The  labor law is amended by adding a new article 21 to read as
     4  follows:
     5                                 ARTICLE 21
     6                        NEW YORK CALL CENTER JOBS ACT
     7  Section 770. Definitions.
     8          771. List of relocated call centers.
     9          772. Grants, guaranteed loans and tax benefits.
    10          773. Procurement contracts.
    11          774. State benefits for workers.
    12          775. No private right of action.
    13          776. Regulations.
    14    § 770. Definitions. As used in this article:
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD01837-02-9

        A. 567--A                           2
     1    1. The term "call center" means a facility or other operation  whereby
     2  employees  receive phone calls or other electronic communication for the
     3  purpose of providing customer assistance or other service.
     4    2.  (a)  The  term  "employer"  means any business entity that employs
     5  fifty or more employees, excluding part-time employees; or fifty or more
     6  employees that in the aggregate work at least fifteen hundred hours  per
     7  week,  excluding  overtime  hours,  for  the  purpose of staffing a call
     8  center.
     9    (b) The term "part-time employee" means an employee  who  is  employed
    10  for  an  average  of  fewer  than  twenty hours per week or who has been
    11  employed for fewer than six of the twelve months preceding the  date  on
    12  which notice is required under this article.
    13    § 771. List of relocated call centers.  1. A call center employer that
    14  intends  to relocate a call center, or one or more facilities or operat-
    15  ing units within a call center comprising at least thirty percent of the
    16  call center's, or operating unit's, total volume when  measured  against
    17  the  previous twelve month average call volume of operations or substan-
    18  tially similar operations, from New York state to a foreign  country  or
    19  any  other state shall notify the commissioner at least one hundred days
    20  before such relocation.
    21    2. A call center  employer  that  violates  subdivision  one  of  this
    22  section  shall  be subject to a civil penalty not to exceed ten thousand
    23  dollars for each day of such violation, except that the commissioner may
    24  reduce such amount for just cause shown.
    25    3. The commissioner shall compile an annual list of  all  call  center
    26  employers  that  relocate  a  call  center, or one or more facilities or
    27  operating units within a call center comprising at least thirty  percent
    28  of  the call center's total volume of operations, from New York state to
    29  a foreign country or to another state.
    30    4. The commissioner shall make the list created pursuant  to  subdivi-
    31  sion three of this section, available to the public and shall prominent-
    32  ly display a link to the list on the department's website.
    33    §  772.  Grants,  guaranteed  loans  and  tax  benefits.  1. Except as
    34  provided in subdivision three of this section  and  notwithstanding  any
    35  other  provision of law, a call center employer that appears on the list
    36  described in section seven hundred seventy-one of this article shall  be
    37  ineligible  for  any  direct  or indirect state grants, state guaranteed
    38  loans, tax benefits or other financial governmental support for a period
    39  of five years from the date such list is published.
    40    2. Except as  provided  in  subdivision  three  of  this  section  and
    41  notwithstanding  any other provision of law, a call center employer that
    42  appears on the list described in section seven  hundred  seventy-one  of
    43  this  article  shall remit the unamortized value of any grant or guaran-
    44  teed loans, or any tax benefits or other  governmental  support  it  has
    45  previously  received  in  the  past five years.   The provisions of this
    46  subdivision shall apply to grants, loans,  tax  benefits  and  financial
    47  governmental  assistance that is received on or after the effective date
    48  of this article.  Nothing in this subdivision shall be deemed to prevent
    49  the employer from receiving any  grant  to  provide  training  or  other
    50  employment  assistance  to  individuals  who  are  selected  as being in
    51  particular need of training or other employment assistance  due  to  the
    52  transfer or relocation of the employer's facility or operating units.
    53    3.  The  commissioner,  in  consultation  with  the appropriate agency
    54  providing a loan or grant, may  waive  the  requirement  provided  under
    55  subdivision  two  of this section if the employer demonstrates that such
    56  requirement would:

        A. 567--A                           3
     1    (a) threaten state or national security;
     2    (b) result in substantial job loss in the state of New York; or
     3    (c) harm the environment.
     4    §  773.  Procurement  contracts.  The  head of each state agency shall
     5  ensure that all state-business-related call center and customer  service
     6  work be performed by state contractors or other agents or subcontractors
     7  entirely  within  the state of New York. State contractors who currently
     8  perform such work outside the state of New York  shall  have  two  years
     9  following  the  effective  date  of  this  article  to  comply with this
    10  section; provided, that if  any  such  contractors  which  perform  work
    11  outside this state adds customer service employees who will perform work
    12  on  such  contracts,  those  new employees shall immediately be employed
    13  within the state of New  York,  except  that  businesses  subject  to  a
    14  contract  agreed  to  prior  to  the effective date of this article with
    15  terms extending beyond a date greater than two years after the effective
    16  date of this article shall be subject to the provisions of this subdivi-
    17  sion at the next point in which the contract is subject to renewal.
    18    § 774. State benefits for workers. No provision of this article  shall
    19  be  construed to permit withholding or denial of payments, compensation,
    20  or benefits under any other state law,  including  but  not  limited  to
    21  state  unemployment compensation, disability payments or worker retrain-
    22  ing or readjustment funds, to workers employed by employers  that  relo-
    23  cate to a foreign country.
    24    §  775.  No private right of action. Nothing set forth in this article
    25  shall be construed as creating, establishing, or authorizing  a  private
    26  cause  of  action  by  an  aggrieved  person against an employer who has
    27  violated, or is alleged to have violated, any provision of this article.
    28    § 776. Regulations. The commissioner shall promulgate such  rules  and
    29  regulations  as shall be necessary and proper to effectuate the purposes
    30  and provisions of this article.
    31    § 3. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
    32  it shall have become a law.
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