New labor laws signed to protect workers, promote training in New York

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEXSTAR) — New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed a package of legislation intended to strengthen worker and labor protections statewide on Saturday. The bills establish new rights for public employees, create new job opportunities in renewable energy and mechanical insulation, and grant a state labor board the authority to intervene in certain private sector disputes if the federal board fails to act.

The new laws aim to create union jobs and protect workers, with the governor explaining that states like New York should “stand up to do whatever we can to protect the men and women who for centuries have built this city and this state into what it is.” Signing the bills at the New York City Labor Day Parade, Hochul owed the new laws to federal moves.

“This legislation is because of the attacks in Washington by Donald Trump. They’re attacking the rights, stacking the NLRB with a bunch of anti-union people. So we said, here in the state of New York, we’re going to make sure that we will intercede in these disputes,” the governor said. “New York will stand tall. Washington can’t screw with us, and I’m signing to make sure that that never happens.”

The package of bills includes five separate pieces of legislation that are supposed to directly affect workers and job security, including measures to strengthen protections for public employees and their unions, create new jobs, and promote energy efficiency.

Employee protections and labor disputes

S12/A779 amends the civil service law to protect the rights of public employees. It’s supposed to maintain collective bargaining agreements that give those employees more than just the basic rights related to suspension or demotion than the Civil Service Law. Better protections won from those collective bargaining negotiations would take precedence over the minimum protections outlined in state law without being modified, replaced, or superseded in case of a workforce reduction like a layoff.

Senator Robert Jackson, the bill’s Senate sponsor, said the law “ensures that layoffs or suspensions cannot be used to discard the rights won at the bargaining table.”

S5254/A6612 amends Section 27-b of the Labor Law, which requires public employers to create and carry out programs to prevent workplace violence. It protects employees from wage reduction when they are involved in investigating a workplace violence protection program violation. The new law states that no employee who accompanies the commissioner on an inspection, participates in a risk evaluation, or participates in an annual program review will have their pay lowered.

S8034A/A8590A amends the labor law to let the New York State Public Employment Relations Board intervene in some labor disputes between employers and recognized employee organizations. PERB can take jurisdiction over such disputes, and for employees not subject to federal jurisdiction, PERB can certify a bargaining representative for a bargaining unit that was already certified by another state or federal agency.

All existing terms and conditions of employment remain in effect through that process. The law is supposed to fill or prevent a potential gap in protections in case the National Labor Relations Board can’t or doesn’t assert authority over an employer.

PERB Chair Timothy Connick said that the board is “ready to fill the void left by Trump’s NLRB and protect the rights of workers and organized labor across the state.

New jobs and energy programs

S4881A/A2730A amends a section of the labor law related to wage requirements for renewable energy systems. It requires contractors and subcontractors performing construction work for covered renewable energy systems to use apprenticeship agreements. Plus, any thermal energy network covered by the law must also require apprenticeship agreements with pre-apprenticeship direct entry providers registered with the Department of Labor.

S2457B/A3999B amends the public authorities law to create the Mechanical Insulation Energy Savings Program. The program provides grants to certain public buildings—any school district, public hospital, public housing building, or political subdivision with a building of at least 20,000 square feet—to cover 100% of the costs of upgrading missing, damaged, or improperly installed mechanical insulation.

That’s the material or products necessary to meet thermal requirements for mechanical piping, equipment, and heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning. The law provides for audits from a “qualified contractor”—one that is a party to an apprenticeship agreement that is in good standing and appropriate for the work—to pinpoint needed upgrades.

That audit must include estimates of costs and energy savings, the qualified contractor must provide it at no cost to the applicant, and the program is supposed to increase the energy efficiency of public buildings. Developing the workforce through vocational, career-track apprenticeships represents the labor angle.

Governor Hochul highlighted other achievements for workers during her speech, including raising the minimum wage and tying it to inflation. She also recalled the state paying down the $7 million unemployment debt from the pandemic.