N.Y. Social Services Law § 336-f: Subsidized private sector and not-for-profit employment programs

§ 336-f. Subsidized private sector and not-for-profit employment

programs. 1. A social services district may establish subsidized private

sector employment programs for public assistance recipients including,

but not limited to, grant diversion programs, which may be supported

wholly or in part with public assistance funds. Such programs shall be

established through agreements between local districts and employers,

including not for profit employers; provided, however, that, if

appropriate, the department may act on behalf of one or more local

districts in establishing such agreements.

2. Programs may include, but need not be limited to, on-the-job

training programs which reimburse employers for the cost of training

public assistance recipients through wage subsidies.

3. The social services official or the department is authorized to

transfer public assistance funds to employers through written agreements

developed and executed in accordance with department regulations.

4. A recipient may be placed in a subsidized private sector or

not-for-profit employment activity only if:

(a) the conditions of employment including such factors as the type of

work to be performed, the geographic location of the job, and the

qualifications of the participant are appropriate and reasonable.

(b) the recipient is deemed an employee for purposes of the applicable

collective bargaining and labor laws and receives the same benefits and

protections as an employee similarly situated (working a similar length

of time and doing similar work) receives pursuant to the provisions of

law, an applicable collective bargaining agreement or otherwise as made

available to the employees of the employer.

(c) no employee of the participating employer is displaced by any

recipient hired pursuant to this section. For the purpose of this

subdivision, the term displacement shall include partial displacement,

such as a reduction in the customary hours of work (including overtime),

wages, or employment benefits.

(d) no participant shall be hired:

(i) if any other employee of the employer is available for

reinstatement, recall or reemployment following a leave of absence,

furlough, layoff or suspension from the same or any substantially

equivalent job; or

(ii) when the employer has terminated the employment of any regular

employee or otherwise reduced its work force with the intention of

filling the vacancy or vacancies so created by hiring a participant

whose wages are subsidized under this program; or

(iii) when the employee organization representing employees of the

employer is engaged in a strike against the employer or such employees

have been locked-out by the employer; or

(iv) when such hiring will result in the loss of a bargaining unit

position as a result of work experience participants performing, in part

or in whole, the work normally performed by the employee in such

position.

(e) no job is created that will infringe in any way upon the

promotional opportunities of current employees or individuals currently

engaged in an approved apprenticeship training program.

(f) no participant shall remain in a job if another employee is

eligible for promotion to that job. An employer shall, at least ten days

prior to filling a position with a participant, notify any employee

organization that represents employees who are engaged in similar work

or training in the same or substantially equivalent jobs as those in

which the placement is to be made, that it intends to make a placement

pursuant to the terms of this section.

(g) where an employee organization represents employees who are

engaged in similar work in the same or substantially equivalent jobs as

those proposed to be funded under this program, an opportunity is

provided for such organization to comment on the proposed placement of a

participant or the administration of the program and the social services

official or his or her designee shall respond to such comments within

ten days of receipt thereof.

(h) employers are prohibited from using public assistance funds to

encourage or discourage membership in, or participation in the

activities of, any employee organization and each employer provides to

the social services district assurances that no such funds will be used

for such purposes.

5. The social services district shall require every private or

not-for-profit employer that intends to hire one or more work activity

participants to certify to the district whether such employer has, in

the past five years, been convicted of a felony or a misdemeanor the

underlying basis of which involved workplace safety and health or labor

standards. Such employer shall also certify as to all violations issued

by the department of labor within the past five years. The social

services official in the district in which the participant is placed

shall determine whether there is a pattern of convictions or violations

sufficient to render the potential employer ineligible. Employers who

submit false information under this section shall be subject to criminal

prosecution for filing a false instrument.