Bill Text: NY A07057 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced


Bill Title: Relates to eligibility of federal employees and contractors for unemployment insurance benefits; applies to any employee or contractor who is a resident of New York state and required to work as a United States government employee or contractor without compensation during a covered lapse in appropriations by the United States government that begins on or after December 22, 2018.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-01-08 - referred to labor [A07057 Detail]

Download: New_York-2019-A07057-Introduced.html


                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                          7057
                               2019-2020 Regular Sessions
                   IN ASSEMBLY
                                      April 4, 2019
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by M. of A. BLAKE -- read once and referred to the Committee
          on Labor
        AN ACT to amend the labor law, in relation to unemployment benefits  for
          qualified  individuals  during certain lapses in appropriations by the
          United States government
          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section  1.  Subdivision 1 of section 591 of the labor law, as amended
     2  by chapter 413 of the laws of 2003, is amended to read as follows:
     3    1. Unemployment. Benefits, except as provided  in  [section]  sections
     4  five  hundred  ninety-one-a and five hundred ninety-one-b of this title,
     5  shall be paid only to a claimant who is totally unemployed  and  who  is
     6  unable to engage in his usual employment or in any other for which he is
     7  reasonably  fitted by training and experience. A claimant who is receiv-
     8  ing benefits under this article shall not be denied such benefits pursu-
     9  ant to this subdivision or to subdivision two of this section because of
    10  such claimant's service on a grand or petit jury of any state or of  the
    11  United States.
    12    §  2.  Subdivision  1  of  section 591 of the labor law, as amended by
    13  chapter 446 of the laws of 1981, is amended to read as follows:
    14    1. Unemployment. Benefits, except as provided in section five  hundred
    15  ninety-one-b  of  this  title,  shall  be paid only to a claimant who is
    16  totally unemployed and who is unable to engage in his  usual  employment
    17  or  in any other for which he is reasonably fitted by training and expe-
    18  rience. A claimant who is receiving benefits under  this  article  shall
    19  not  be denied such benefits pursuant to this subdivision or to subdivi-
    20  sion two of this section because of such claimant's service on  a  grand
    21  or petit jury of any state or of the United States.
    22    §  3.  Subdivision  2  of  section 591 of the labor law, as amended by
    23  chapter 413 of the laws of 2003, is amended to read as follows:
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD09361-02-9

        A. 7057                             2
     1    2. Availability  and  capability.  Except  as  provided  in  [section]
     2  sections five hundred ninety-one-a and five hundred ninety-one-b of this
     3  title,  no  benefits shall be payable to any claimant who is not capable
     4  of work or who is not ready, willing and  able  to  work  in  his  usual
     5  employment or in any other for which he is reasonably fitted by training
     6  and experience.
     7    §  4.  Subdivision  2  of  section 591 of the labor law, as amended by
     8  section 12 of part O of chapter 57 of the laws of 2013,  is  amended  to
     9  read as follows:
    10    2.  Availability, capability, and work search. [No] Except as provided
    11  in section five hundred ninety-one-b of this title, no benefits shall be
    12  payable to any claimant who is not capable of work or who is not  ready,
    13  willing  and able to work in his or her usual employment or in any other
    14  for which he or she is reasonably fitted by training and experience  and
    15  who is not actively seeking work. In order to be actively seeking work a
    16  claimant  must  be  engaged  in systematic and sustained efforts to find
    17  work. The commissioner shall promulgate regulations defining  systematic
    18  and  sustained  efforts to find work and setting standards for the proof
    19  of work search efforts.
    20    § 5. The labor law is amended by adding a new section 591-b to read as
    21  follows:
    22    § 591-b. Definitions. 1. For purposes of this section,  the  following
    23  terms shall have the following meanings:
    24    (a) "Qualified individual" shall mean an employee or contractor who is
    25  (i)  a  resident  of  this  state  and (ii) required to work as a United
    26  States government employee or  contractor  during  a  covered  lapse  in
    27  appropriations without compensation.
    28    (b)  "Covered  lapse in appropriations" shall mean any lapse in appro-
    29  priations by the United States government that begins on or after Decem-
    30  ber twenty-second, two thousand eighteen.
    31    2. Eligibility for unemployment benefits.  Each  qualified  individual
    32  shall  be  eligible  to  receive  unemployment benefits pursuant to this
    33  article for the time period in which there was a covered lapse in appro-
    34  priations.
    35    § 6. This act shall take effect immediately, provided that the  amend-
    36  ments  to  subdivisions  1 and 2 of section 591 of the labor law made by
    37  sections one and three of this act shall be subject  to  the  expiration
    38  and  reversion  of such subdivisions pursuant to chapter 413 of the laws
    39  of 2003, as amended, when upon such date the provisions of sections  two
    40  and four of this act shall take effect.
feedback