Bill Text: NY S01826 | 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: Strong Partisan Bill (Democrat 37-3)

Status: (Passed) 2020-01-02 - APPROVAL MEMO.97 [S01826 Detail]

Download: New_York-2019-S01826-Amended.html


                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                         1826--A
                               2019-2020 Regular Sessions
                    IN SENATE
                                    January 16, 2019
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by Sens. KENNEDY, ADDABBO, BENJAMIN, BIAGGI, BOYLE, BRESLIN,
          GAUGHRAN, GOUNARDES, HARCKHAM, JACKSON, KAPLAN, LIU, MAY, MAYER, METZ-
          GER, MYRIE, RAMOS, SALAZAR, SAVINO, SKOUFIS, STAVISKY  --  read  twice
          and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee
          on  Labor  -- 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:
    15    1. The term "call center" means a facility or other operation  whereby
    16  employees  receive phone calls or other electronic communication for the
    17  purpose of providing customer assistance or other service.
    18    2. (a) The term "employer" means  any  business  entity  that  employs
    19  fifty or more employees, excluding part-time employees; or fifty or more
    20  employees  that in the aggregate work at least fifteen hundred hours per
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD02106-05-9

        S. 1826--A                          2
     1  week, excluding overtime hours, for  the  purpose  of  staffing  a  call
     2  center.
     3    (b)  The  term  "part-time employee" means an employee who is employed
     4  for an average of fewer than twenty hours  per  week  or  who  has  been
     5  employed  for  fewer than six of the twelve months preceding the date on
     6  which notice is required under this article.
     7    § 771. List of relocated call centers.  1. A call center employer that
     8  intends to relocate a call center, or one or more facilities or  operat-
     9  ing units within a call center comprising at least thirty percent of the
    10  call  center's,  or operating unit's, total volume when measured against
    11  the previous twelve month average call volume of operations or  substan-
    12  tially  similar  operations, from New York state to a foreign country or
    13  any other state shall notify the commissioner at least one hundred  days
    14  before such relocation.
    15    2.  A  call  center  employer  that  violates  subdivision one of this
    16  section shall be subject to a civil penalty not to exceed  ten  thousand
    17  dollars for each day of such violation, except that the commissioner may
    18  reduce such amount for just cause shown.
    19    3.  The  commissioner  shall compile an annual list of all call center
    20  employers that relocate a call center, or  one  or  more  facilities  or
    21  operating  units within a call center comprising at least thirty percent
    22  of the call center's total volume of operations, from New York state  to
    23  a foreign country or to another state.
    24    4.  The  commissioner shall make the list created pursuant to subdivi-
    25  sion three of this section, available to the public and shall prominent-
    26  ly display a link to the list on the department's website.
    27    § 772. Grants,  guaranteed  loans  and  tax  benefits.  1.  Except  as
    28  provided  in  subdivision  three of this section and notwithstanding any
    29  other provision of law, a call center employer that appears on the  list
    30  described  in section seven hundred seventy-one of this article shall be
    31  ineligible for any direct or indirect  state  grants,  state  guaranteed
    32  loans, tax benefits or other financial governmental support for a period
    33  of five years from the date such list is published.
    34    2.  Except  as  provided  in  subdivision  three  of  this section and
    35  notwithstanding any other provision of law, a call center employer  that
    36  appears  on  the  list described in section seven hundred seventy-one of
    37  this article shall remit the unamortized value of any grant  or  guaran-
    38  teed  loans,  or  any  tax benefits or other governmental support it has
    39  previously received in the past five years.    The  provisions  of  this
    40  subdivision  shall  apply  to  grants, loans, tax benefits and financial
    41  governmental assistance that is received on or after the effective  date
    42  of this article.  Nothing in this subdivision shall be deemed to prevent
    43  the  employer  from  receiving  any  grant  to provide training or other
    44  employment assistance to  individuals  who  are  selected  as  being  in
    45  particular  need  of  training or other employment assistance due to the
    46  transfer or relocation of the employer's facility or operating units.
    47    3. The commissioner,  in  consultation  with  the  appropriate  agency
    48  providing  a  loan  or  grant,  may waive the requirement provided under
    49  subdivision two of this section if the employer demonstrates  that  such
    50  requirement would:
    51    (a) threaten state or national security;
    52    (b) result in substantial job loss in the state of New York; or
    53    (c) harm the environment.
    54    §  773.  Procurement  contracts.  The  head of each state agency shall
    55  ensure that all state-business-related call center and customer  service
    56  work be performed by state contractors or other agents or subcontractors

        S. 1826--A                          3
     1  entirely  within  the state of New York. State contractors who currently
     2  perform such work outside the state of New York  shall  have  two  years
     3  following  the  effective  date  of  this  article  to  comply with this
     4  section;  provided,  that  if  any  such  contractors which perform work
     5  outside this state adds customer service employees who will perform work
     6  on such contracts, those new employees  shall  immediately  be  employed
     7  within  the  state  of  New  York,  except  that businesses subject to a
     8  contract agreed to prior to the effective  date  of  this  article  with
     9  terms extending beyond a date greater than two years after the effective
    10  date of this article shall be subject to the provisions of this subdivi-
    11  sion at the next point in which the contract is subject to renewal.
    12    §  774. State benefits for workers. No provision of this article shall
    13  be construed to permit withholding or denial of payments,  compensation,
    14  or  benefits  under  any  other  state law, including but not limited to
    15  state unemployment compensation, disability payments or worker  retrain-
    16  ing  or  readjustment funds, to workers employed by employers that relo-
    17  cate to a foreign country.
    18    § 775. No private right of action. Nothing set forth in  this  article
    19  shall  be  construed as creating, establishing, or authorizing a private
    20  cause of action by an aggrieved  person  against  an  employer  who  has
    21  violated, or is alleged to have violated, any provision of this article.
    22    §  776.  Regulations. The commissioner shall promulgate such rules and
    23  regulations as shall be necessary and proper to effectuate the  purposes
    24  and provisions of this article.
    25    § 3. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
    26  it shall have become a law.
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