Bill Text: NY A08156 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Amended
Bill Title: Establishes workplace readiness week to educate minors in relation to their workplace rights; requires eleventh and twelfth graders to receive education on workplace rights; requires a document on workplace rights to be provided to any minor seeking working papers.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-26 - print number 8156a [A08156 Detail]
Download: New_York-2023-A08156-Amended.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 8156--A 2023-2024 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY October 13, 2023 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. BRONSON -- read once and referred to the Commit- tee on Education -- recommitted to the Committee on Education in accordance with Assembly Rule 3, sec. 2 -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said commit- tee AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to establishing a work- place readiness week for secondary school students The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "youth 2 workplace readiness act". 3 § 2. Legislative findings and intent. It is the intent of the Legisla- 4 ture that New York pupils enter the workforce with a strong understand- 5 ing of their rights as workers, as well as their explicit rights as 6 employed minors. It is further the intent of the Legislature to equip 7 pupils with this knowledge to protect them from retaliation and discrim- 8 ination, to ensure that these young workers receive all wages and bene- 9 fits to which they are entitled, to empower them to refuse unsafe work 10 when necessary, and to prepare them to assert their labor rights whenev- 11 er these rights are threatened. 12 The Legislature hereby finds and declares that young New Yorkers must 13 enter the workforce having received a thorough education on their right 14 to join or organize a union at their workplace. It is further the intent 15 of the Legislature that secondary schools present state-approved appren- 16 ticeship programs as a path towards a living wage career for all pupils. 17 § 3. The education law is amended by adding a new section 818 to read 18 as follows: 19 § 818. Workplace readiness week. 1. The week of each year that 20 includes May first shall be known as "workplace readiness week". All 21 secondary schools shall annually observe that week by providing informa- EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD11779-04-4A. 8156--A 2 1 tion to students on their rights as workers. The topics covered shall 2 include, but not be limited to, all of the following: 3 (a) local, state, and federal laws regarding each of the following 4 issues: 5 (i) child labor; 6 (ii) wage and hour protections; 7 (iii) worker safety; 8 (iv) workers' compensation; 9 (v) paid sick leave; 10 (vi) prohibitions against retaliation; and 11 (vii) the right to organize a union in the workplace; 12 (b) the labor movement's role in winning the protections and benefits 13 described in paragraph (a) of this subdivision; 14 (c) an introduction to state-approved apprenticeship programs in New 15 York, how to access them, and how they can provide an alternative career 16 path for those who do not attend university or college; 17 (d) an introduction to the civil service system in New York and the 18 process of testing and applying for civil service jobs; and 19 (e) an introduction to financial literacy which shall include, but not 20 be limited to, banking basics, budgeting, and filing taxes. 21 2. For students in grades eleven and twelve, the observances required 22 by subdivision one of this section shall be integrated into the regular 23 school program, consistent with the history/social science curriculum, 24 but may also include special events after regular school hours. This 25 integration is encouraged, but not required, to occur during workplace 26 readiness week. 27 3. Any minor seeking working papers in order to be employed in the 28 state shall be issued, before or at the time of receiving such working 29 papers, a document clearly explaining basic labor rights extended to 30 workers. Topics covered in this document shall include, but not be 31 limited to, those topics identified in paragraph (a) of subdivision one 32 of this section. Such document shall be produced, and made available, in 33 any language spoken by five percent or more of the pupils enrolled in 34 any one school or, if requested, in the primary language of any student 35 and shall express these labor rights in plain, natural terminology easi- 36 ly understood by the student. The document shall be in a physical form 37 but may also be provided electronically. The New York state school of 38 industrial and labor relations at Cornell university is encouraged to 39 produce, with input from bona fide labor organizations, a draft template 40 for the document to be provided to minors seeking working papers pursu- 41 ant to this subdivision, including the translations specified. 42 4. The commissioner shall annually send a written notice, detailing 43 the requirements of workplace readiness week and how teachers may access 44 related instructional materials and other resources, to every secondary 45 school in the state, at least one month before workplace readiness week. 46 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
