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--B
                               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, REYES, BURKE, BRAUNSTEIN, FALL, ZEBROW-
          SKI, STERN, SIMOTAS, BRONSON, LiPETRI, REILLY -- Multi-Sponsored by --
          M. of A. DenDEKKER, ENGLEBRIGHT, HEVESI,  LENTOL,  LIFTON,  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 -- again
          reported from said committee with  amendments,  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.
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD01837-05-9

        A. 567--B                           2
     1          775. No private right of action.
     2          776. Regulations.
     3    § 770. Definitions. As used in this article:
     4    1.  The term "call center" means a facility or other operation whereby
     5  employees receive phone calls or other electronic communication for  the
     6  purpose of providing customer assistance or other service.
     7    2.  (a) The term "call center employer" means any business entity that
     8  employs fifty or more employees, excluding part-time employees; or fifty
     9  or more employees that in the aggregate work at  least  fifteen  hundred
    10  hours  per week, excluding overtime hours, for the purpose of staffing a
    11  call center.
    12    (b) The term "part-time employee" means an employee  who  is  employed
    13  for  an  average  of  fewer  than  twenty hours per week or who has been
    14  employed for fewer than six of the twelve months preceding the  date  on
    15  which notice is required under this article.
    16    § 771. List of relocated call centers.  1. A call center employer that
    17  intends to relocate a call center from New York state to a foreign coun-
    18  try or any other state, or reduce call volume handled at call centers in
    19  New  York  state by at least thirty percent, measured as the call volume
    20  of the previous calendar month compared  to  the  average  monthly  call
    21  volume of the previous twelve months, and intends to relocate such oper-
    22  ations  from  New  York  state  to a foreign country or any other state,
    23  shall notify the commissioner at least  one  hundred  days  before  such
    24  relocation.
    25    2.  A  call  center  employer  that  violates  subdivision one of this
    26  section shall be subject to a civil penalty not to exceed  ten  thousand
    27  dollars for each day of such violation, except that the commissioner may
    28  reduce such amount for just cause shown.
    29    3.  The  commissioner  shall compile an annual list of all call center
    30  employers that relocate or reduce call volume  pursuant  to  subdivision
    31  one of this section, and such list shall be made available to the public
    32  and  shall  prominently  display  a link to the list on the department's
    33  website.
    34    4. The commissioner shall make the list created pursuant  to  subdivi-
    35  sion three of this section, available to the public and shall prominent-
    36  ly display a link to the list on the department's website.
    37    §  772.  Grants,  guaranteed  loans  and  tax  benefits.  1. Except as
    38  provided in subdivision three of this section  and  notwithstanding  any
    39  other  provision of law, a call center employer that appears on the list
    40  described in section seven hundred seventy-one of this article shall  be
    41  ineligible  for  any  direct  or indirect state grants, state guaranteed
    42  loans, tax benefits or other financial governmental support for a period
    43  of five years from the date such list is published.
    44    2. Except as  provided  in  subdivision  three  of  this  section  and
    45  notwithstanding  any other provision of law, a call center employer that
    46  appears on the list described in section seven  hundred  seventy-one  of
    47  this  article  shall remit the unamortized value of any grant or guaran-
    48  teed loans, or any tax benefits or other  governmental  support  it  has
    49  previously  received  in  the  past five years.   The provisions of this
    50  subdivision shall apply to grants, loans,  tax  benefits  and  financial
    51  governmental  assistance that is received on or after the effective date
    52  of this article.  Nothing in this subdivision shall be deemed to prevent
    53  the call center employer from receiving any grant to provide training or
    54  other employment assistance to individuals who are selected as being  in
    55  particular  need  of  training or other employment assistance due to the

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