§ 591 — Eligibility for benefits

New York § 591

• Jurisdiction: New York
• Law LAB: Labor
• Title 7: Benefits and Claims
• Art. 18: Unemployment Insurance Law

Text

§ 591. Eligibility for benefits. * 1. Unemployment. Benefits, except\nas provided in section five hundred ninety-one-a of this title, shall be\npaid only to a claimant who is totally unemployed or partially\nunemployed. A claimant who is receiving benefits under this article\nshall not be denied such benefits pursuant to this subdivision or to\nsubdivision two of this section because of such claimant's service on a\ngrand or petit jury of any state or of the United States.\n * NB Effective until December 7, 2027\n * 1. Unemployment. Benefits shall be paid only to a claimant who is\ntotally unemployed or partially unemployed. A claimant who is receiving\nbenefits under this article shall not be denied such benefits pursuant\nto this subdivision or to subdivision two of this section because of\nsuch claimant's service on a grand or petit jury of any state or of the\nUnited States.\n * NB Effective December 7, 2027\n * 2. Availability and capability. Except as provided in section five\nhundred ninety-one-a of this title, no benefits shall be payable to any\nclaimant who is not capable of work or who is not ready, willing and\nable to work in his usual employment or in any other for which he is\nreasonably fitted by training and experience.\n * NB Effective until December 7, 2027\n * 2. Availability, capability, and work search. No benefits shall be\npayable to any claimant who is not capable of work or who is not ready,\nwilling and able to work in his or her usual employment or in any other\nfor which he or she is reasonably fitted by training and experience and\nwho is not actively seeking work. In order to be actively seeking work a\nclaimant must be engaged in systematic and sustained efforts to find\nwork. The commissioner shall promulgate regulations defining systematic\nand sustained efforts to find work and setting standards for the proof\nof work search efforts. Such regulations shall take into account the\nneed for claimants to provide child care for their child or children.\n * NB Effective December 7, 2027\n 3. Vacation period or holiday.\n (a) Compensation paid to a claimant for any day during a paid vacation\nperiod, or for a paid holiday, shall be considered compensation from\nemployment and shall be included in the calculation of a claimant's\nbenefit for partial unemployment as set forth in subdivision five of\nsection five hundred ninety of this article.\n (b) The term "vacation period", as used in this subdivision, means the\ntime designated for vacation purposes in accordance with the collective\nbargaining agreement or the employment contract or by the employer and\nthe claimant, his union, or his representative. If either the collective\nbargaining agreement or the employment contract is silent as to such\ntime, or if there be no collective bargaining agreement or employment\ncontract, then the time so designated in writing and announced to the\nemployees in advance by the employer is to be considered such vacation\nperiod.\n (c) A paid vacation period or a paid holiday is a vacation period or a\nholiday for which a claimant is given a payment or allowance not later\nthan thirty days thereafter, directly by his employer or through a fund,\ntrustee, custodian or like medium provided the amount thereof has been\ncontributed solely by the employer on behalf of the claimant and the\namount so contributed by the employer is paid over in full to the\nclaimant without any deductions other than those required by law, even\nif such payment or allowance be deemed to be rumuneration for prior\nservices rendered as an accrued contractual right, and irrespective of\nwhether the employment has or has not been terminated.\n (d) Any agreement expressed or implied by a claimant or by his union\nor other representative to a plant or department shut down for vacation\npurposes is not of itself to be considered either a withdrawal by such\nemployee from the labor market during the time of such vacation shut\ndown or to render him unavailable for employment during the time of such\nvacation shut down.\n 4. (a) An unemployed individual shall be eligible to receive benefits\nwith respect to any week only if such individual participates in\nreemployment services, such as job search assistance services, available\nunder any state or federal law, if the individual has been determined to\nbe likely to exhaust regular benefits and needs reemployment services\npursuant to a profiling system established by the commissioner, unless\nthe commissioner determines that:\n (i) the individual has completed such services; or\n (ii) there is justifiable cause for the claimant's failure to\nparticipate in such services.\n (b) Such profiling system shall be established pursuant to a plan of\nthe department which shall include, but not be limited to:\n (i) specification of the profiling methodology, including factors used\nto determine a claimant's required participation in reemployment\nservices and the statistical relationship of such factors to the\nexhaustion of benefits by certain claimants;\n (ii) standards to be used to insure that all claimants are uniformly\nevaluated against the profiling criteria;\n (iii) a description of criteria to be used to make assignments to\nbasic reemployment services offered;\n (iv) procedures for notification of the right of appeal and for appeal\nby a claimant of the profiling assessment and referral of the\ndepartment;\n (v) an evaluation of the extent to which reemployment services are\navailable throughout the state and accessible to claimants;\n (vi) a demonstration of efforts by the department to coordinate with\nthe local providers offering reemployment services, to avoid duplication\nof services among providers offering similar reemployment services to\nthe same participant group;\n (vii) policies and procedures for referrals to reemployment services,\nincluding referrals to providers other than the department; and\n (viii) guidelines governing the extent to which education and skills\nor occupational training shall be offered.\n (c) The department shall, at a time and in a manner consistent with\nfederal requirements, submit a report to the temporary president of the\nsenate and the speaker of the assembly on the profiling system\nauthorized herein except that such report:\n (i) shall be submitted to the temporary president of the senate and\nthe speaker of the assembly no later than September first, nineteen\nhundred ninety-five and annually thereafter, and\n (ii) shall include data on the number of individuals profiled and the\nnumber of profiled individuals exhausting benefits as well as a\ndescription of the service or services provided to profiled individuals\nand the number of individuals referred for reemployment services during\nthe program year ending the preceding June thirtieth.\n 5. Maximum combined payments. If a claimant is receiving benefits\npursuant to subdivision six of section fifteen of the workers'\ncompensation law, the unemployment benefits to which a claimant may be\nentitled pursuant to this article shall be limited to the difference\nbetween the amount of workers' compensation benefits and one hundred\npercent of the claimant's average weekly wage.\n 6. Dismissal pay. (a) No benefits shall be payable to a claimant for\nany week during a dismissal period for which a claimant receives\ndismissal pay if such weekly dismissal pay exceeds the claimant's\nmaximum weekly benefit rate plus the claimant's partial benefit credit.\n (b) The term "dismissal pay", as used in this subdivision, means one\nor more payments made by an employer to an employee due to his or her\nseparation from service of the employer regardless of whether the\nemployer is legally bound by contract, statute or otherwise to make such\npayments. The term does not include payments for pension, retirement,\naccrued leave, and health insurance or payments for supplemental\nunemployment benefits.\n (c) The term "dismissal period", as used in this subdivision, means\nthe time designated for weeks of dismissal pay attributable to the\nclaimant's weekly earnings in accordance with the collective bargaining\nagreement, employment contract, employer's dismissal policy, dismissal\nagreement with the employer or other such agreement. If no such\nagreement, contract or policy designates a dismissal period, then the\ndismissal period shall be the time designated in writing in advance by\nthe employer to be considered the dismissal period. If no time period is\ndesignated, the dismissal period shall commence on the day after the\nclaimant's last day of employment. If the dismissal payment is in a lump\nsum amount or for an indefinite period, dismissal payments shall be\nallocated on a weekly basis from the day after the claimant's last day\nof employment and the claimant shall not be eligible for benefits for\nany week for which it is determined that the claimant receives dismissal\npay. The amount of dismissal pay shall be allocated based on the\nclaimant's actual weekly remuneration paid by the employer during his or\nher employment or, if such amount cannot be determined, the amount of\nthe claimant's average weekly wage for the highest calendar quarter.\n (d) Notwithstanding the foregoing, the provisions of this subdivision\nshall not apply during any weeks in which the initial payment of\ndismissal pay is made more than thirty days from the last day of the\nclaimant's employment.\n