New York 2023-2024 Regular Session

New York Assembly Bill A03725 Latest Draft

Bill / Amended Version Filed 02/07/2023

   
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 3725--A 2023-2024 Regular Sessions  IN ASSEMBLY February 7, 2023 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. EPSTEIN, GUNTHER -- read once and referred to the Committee on Labor -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee AN ACT directing a state agency telework report 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 "State agency telework report act". 3 § 2. Legislative intent. The legislature takes notice of the growing 4 practice of the use of telework as a future form of work away from the 5 principal place of employment. Telecommuting is being used more and more 6 by businesses as a way to save money for employers by reducing contrib- 7 utions to workers' compensation premiums, allowing more freedom for a 8 balance between work and family life for employees, reducing air 9 pollution and traffic congestion, reducing absenteeism, and accommodat- 10 ing those who are disabled. 11 Teleworking warrants further research to enable the state to move a 12 step closer to using it as a way to save taxpayer's money, while also 13 benefiting the state and its employees. 14 § 3. Definitions. As used in this act, the following terms shall have 15 the following meanings: 16 (a) "State agency" means any state department, board, bureau, divi- 17 sion, commission, committee, public authority, public benefit corpo- 18 ration, council, office, or other governmental entity performing a 19 governmental or proprietary function for the state. 20 (b) "Telework" means to perform normal and regular work functions on a 21 workday that ordinarily would be performed at the state agency's offi- 22 cial principal location or locations, at a different location. 23 § 4. State agency telework report. (a) Each state agency shall submit 24 a report to the department of civil service by July 1, 2024 which shall 25 contain the following: EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD07723-03-3 

 A. 3725--A 2 1 (i) Number of employees that teleworked in 2023; 2 (ii) Job titles that teleworked in 2023; 3 (iii) Number of days teleworked by anonymized employee in 2023; 4 (iv) Number of days teleworked by job title in 2023; 5 (v) Any benefits of telework remarked by the agency; 6 (vi) Any disadvantages of telework remarked by the agency; and 7 (vii) A copy of the agency's official telework policy, if any, includ- 8 ing how employees and job titles are chosen for telework. 9 In addition, each state agency shall allow employees to anonymously 10 submit their opinions of the agency's telecommuting policy, or lack 11 thereof, which the agencies shall include in the telework state agency 12 report due to the department of civil service and which shall be summa- 13 rized in the finalized report compiled by the department of civil 14 service pursuant to subdivision (b) of this section. 15 (b) On or before September 1, 2024 the department of civil service 16 shall provide a report compiling all the agency telework reports and 17 submit such compiled report to the speaker of the assembly and the 18 temporary president of the senate. 19 § 5. This act shall take effect immediately.