NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A5667
SPONSOR: Levenberg TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the labor law, in relation to allowing claimants
collecting unemployment to obtain part-time work without losing their
unemployment benefits
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
The purpose of this legislation is to allow the ability for an individ-
ual to collect unemployment benefits when partially employed.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1: Amends subdivision 1 of 590 of the Labor Law is amended by
changing 'he and his' to 'such claimant or the claimant', and it will
also allow the claimant to not only register as totally unemployed but
also as partially employed pursuant to new section 590-a of this title.
Section 2: Amends subdivision 1 of section 590 of the Labor Law by stat-
ing that it is pursuant to the new section 590-a as mentioned in section
3 below.
Section 3: Adds a new section 590-a to the Labor Law which allows a
person who working part-time to collect partial unemployment benefits
equal to the amount of benefits such person would collect if totally
unemployed but with a reduction of 50% of the income earned by such part
time employment.
Section 4: Establishes the effective date.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ORIGINAL AND AMENDED VERSION (IF APPLICABLE):
Not applicable at this time.
JUSTIFICATION:
Currently, a person can collect unemployment benefits only if the person
is "totally unemployed." The amount of the unemployment benefit is equal
to 50% of their average full-time employment, not to exceed $405/week.
The unemployment benefits are reduced by 25% of the weekly benefit for
any day in which a person engages in any work, regardless of the amount
of time or income involved in such work.
For example, if a person who is collecting $400 a week engages in any
part-time work on any day during the week (no matter how minimal), the
person would lose $100 for each day of such part-time work. Indeed, the
New York State Labor Department advises claimants that "You are consid-
ered employed on any day when you perform any services - even an hour or
less-regardless of whether you get paid for that day. Each day or
partial day of work will reduce your benefit rate by one-quarter." NEW
YORK STATE LABOR DEPARTMENT, Unemployment FAQs.
Essentially, current law penalizes a person who accepts part-time
employment. To avoid the draconian effects of the current law, many
people refuse to accept any part-time employment or work "under-the-ta-
ble" and fail to report their part-time income. Yet data is clear that
many part-time jobs can open into full-time positions.
This proposed legislation would reduce weekly unemployment benefits by
one-half of the amount earned by the claimant during the preceding week
Since unemployment benefits are based on one-half of a person's salary
(subject to a maximum cap), a 50% offset would automatically result in
the termination of any unemployment benefits once a person reaches their
prior qualifying income level.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
A.5589 of 2023/2024 * A.4943 of 2021/2022 * A.5426 of 2019/2020
A.4295 of 2017/2018 * A.5100 of 2015/2016 * A.9332 of 2013/2014
A.10471 of 2011/2012
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
This legislation would result in significantly lower unemployment costs
to the State, municipalities and private employers because the amount of
unemployment benefits would be reduced to reflect the part-time income
of the claimant. At the same time, the overall net income of claimants
would increase because they would be the beneficiaries of the other
one-half of their part-time income.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the 60th day after it shall have become a
law; provided, however, that the amendments to subdivision 1 of section
590 of the Labor Law made by section 2 of this act shall take effect on
the same date and the same manner as section 6 of chapter 277 of the
laws of 2021, takes effect. Effective immediately, the addition, amend-
ment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implemen-
tation of this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and
completed on or before such effective date.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
5667
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 19, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. LEVENBERG -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Labor
AN ACT to amend the labor law, in relation to allowing claimants
collecting unemployment to obtain part-time work without losing their
unemployment benefits
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 590 of the labor law, as amended
2 by chapter 645 of the laws of 1951, is amended to read as follows:
3 1. Entitlement to benefits. A claimant shall be entitled to accumulate
4 effective days for the purpose of benefit rights only if [he] such
5 claimant has complied with the provisions of this article regarding the
6 filing of [his] the claim, including the filing of a valid original
7 claim, registered as totally unemployed or partially employed pursuant
8 to section five hundred ninety-a of this title, reported [his] such
9 claimant's subsequent employment and unemployment, and reported for work
10 or otherwise given notice of the continuance of [his] such claimant's
11 unemployment.
12 § 2. Subdivision 1 of section 590 of the labor law, as amended by
13 chapter 277 of the laws of 2021, is amended to read as follows:
14 1. Entitlement to benefits. A claimant shall be entitled to accumulate
15 effective weeks for the purpose of benefit rights only if [he] such
16 claimant has complied with the provisions of this article regarding the
17 filing of [his] the claim, including the filing of a valid original
18 claim, registered as totally or partially unemployed pursuant to section
19 five hundred ninety-a of this title, reported [his] such claimant's
20 subsequent employment and unemployment, and reported for work or other-
21 wise given notice of the continuance of [his] such claimant's unemploy-
22 ment.
23 § 3. The labor law is amended by adding a new section 590-a to read as
24 follows:
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD08320-01-5
A. 5667 2
1 § 590-a. Reductions in unemployment benefits due to part-time work. 1.
2 Entitlement to benefits. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to
3 the contrary any claimant who accepts part-time work shall be eligible
4 to collect partial unemployment pursuant to this section provided such
5 claimant meets the criteria outlined in this section.
6 2. Reporting part-time employment. A claimant collecting unemployment
7 who is paid for part-time employment while collecting unemployment shall
8 be required to report during each compensable period the amount of money
9 earned from such part-time work.
10 3. Benefit rate. A claimant's unemployment benefit shall be reduced by
11 fifty percent of the part-time income during a compensable period, in a
12 manner determined by the commissioner.
13 4. Penalties for false or inaccurate reporting. The provisions of
14 section five hundred ninety-four of this title shall control should a
15 claimant inaccurately report or fail to report the amount of part-time
16 wages earned during any compensable period.
17 § 4. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall
18 have become a law; provided, however, that the amendments to subdivision
19 1 of section 590 of the labor law made by section two of this act shall
20 take effect on the same date and the same manner as section six of chap-
21 ter 277 of the laws of 2021, takes effect. Effective immediately, the
22 addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary
23 for the implementation of this act on its effective date are authorized
24 to be made and completed on or before such effective date.
