New York Assembly Bill A01435 Latest Draft

   
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 1435--A 2023-2024 Regular Sessions  IN ASSEMBLY January 17, 2023 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. ROZIC, SIMON, FORREST, SEAWRIGHT, GONZALEZ-ROJAS, EPSTEIN, MAMDANI, GALLAGHER, COLTON, ZINERMAN, COOK, REYES, BURGOS, MITAYNES, JACKSON, CARROLL, HEVESI, DINOWITZ, ARDILA, RAGA, FALL -- read once and referred to the Committee on Cities -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee AN ACT to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to enacting the "New York city teleworking expansion 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 city teleworking expansion act". 3 § 2. Legislative findings. The legislature hereby finds and declares 4 that the health and safety of the population living in and around the 5 densely populated New York city metropolitan region is a matter of state 6 concern, as is the economic vitality and the effectiveness of mass tran- 7 sit in that region, all of which are threatened by the amount of traffic 8 congestion inside of, and into, New York city, and the overcrowded 9 buses, subways and railroads within the region. Traffic congestion is 10 particularly harmful to the mass transit bus systems run by the Metro- 11 politan Transportation Authority, creating delays and hindering the 12 growth of essential surface mass transportation systems, and the entire 13 mass transit system suffers from severe overcrowding. The negative 14 impact of traffic congestion in New York city on the health, economy and 15 mass transit systems of the downstate region, as well as the overcrowd- 16 ing of the region's mass transit systems, were established at legisla- 17 tive hearings in the spring of 2007, as well as during the hearings and 18 reports of the legislatively created New York City Traffic Mitigation 19 Commission. During these hearings, it was established that a very large 20 number of New York city employees drive to work both from points within 21 New York city and without, that New York city lacks a working and 22 adequate telecommuting program for its employees, and that an effective 23 telecommuting program would significantly reduce the number of such 24 employees driving to work. Likewise, a telecommuting program for New EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD00503-03-3 
 A. 1435--A 2 1 York city employees would also allow employees who use mass transit to 2 work from home, thereby alleviating the current overcrowding in the 3 region's mass transit systems. Such a program as established by this 4 legislation would address the state's concern that the health, safety, 5 economic vitality and mass transit operations of the downstate region be 6 preserved and protected. 7 § 3. The administrative code of the city of New York is amended by 8 adding a new section 12-141 to read as follows: 9 § 12-141 Teleworking programs. a. As used in this section, the 10 following terms shall have the following meanings: 11 1. "City agency" shall mean a city, county, borough or other office, 12 position, administration, department, division, bureau, board, commis- 13 sion, authority, corporation, public benefit corporation, committee or 14 other agency of government, the expenses of which are paid in whole or 15 in part from the city treasury, and shall include but not be limited to 16 the council, the offices of each elected city official, the board of 17 education, community boards, the health and hospitals corporation, the 18 New York city industrial development agency, the offices of the district 19 attorneys of the counties of Bronx, Kings, New York, Queens and Rich- 20 mond, and of the special narcotics prosecutor, the New York city housing 21 authority, and the New York city housing development corporation. 22 2. "Telework" shall mean to perform normal and regular work functions 23 on a workday that ordinarily would be performed at the agency's princi- 24 pal location at a different location, thereby eliminating or substan- 25 tially reducing the physical commute to and from such agency's principal 26 location. Provided, however, that the different location shall not 27 conflict with the requirements of any applicable New York city residency 28 requirements. 29 b. Each agency shall establish a policy and program to allow employees 30 to perform all or a portion of their duties through teleworking to the 31 maximum extent possible without diminished employee performance. Each 32 agency shall designate a "telework coordinator" to be responsible for 33 overseeing the implementation of teleworking programs. All employee 34 performance standards shall be reduced to writing with clear metrics for 35 employee productivity success and failure via teleworking. Periodic 36 evaluations shall be included in the telework policy and program. 37 Provided, however, that the provisions of this section shall not super- 38 sede an existing telework policy and program that is the result of 39 agreement between an employer and a recognized or certified employee 40 organization, unless such existing telework policy and program provides 41 less protection than provided for under this section. Nothing in the 42 section shall be interpreted as discouraging the use of collective 43 bargaining as the primary tool for developing a telework policy and 44 program. 45 c. Eligibility for teleworking shall be determined by a reasonable 46 assessment of the tasks required by each title or title category, with 47 recognized or certified employee organization input, and applied fairly 48 across the employees within such title or category. 49 d. Nothing in this section shall supersede existing law, regulation, 50 or personnel policies applicable to employees with injuries, illnesses, 51 environmental health conditions, or disabilities or with the reasonable 52 application of employee earned leave time including, but not limited to, 53 sick, compensatory, paid or unpaid family leave, or vacation. 54 § 4. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after 55 it shall have become a law.