2023 New York Laws › SOS - Social Services › Article 5 - Assistance and Care › Title 9-B - Public Assistance Employment Programs › 336-C - Work Experience.

§  336-c.  Work  experience.  1.  (a) Work experience programs meeting
state and federal requirements may be  established  by  social  services
districts.
(b) Work experience programs may include the performance of work for a
federal office or agency, county, city, village or town or for the state
or  in  the  operation  of  or  in  an activity of a nonprofit agency or
institution, in accordance with the regulations of the department.
2. A recipient may be assigned to participate in such work  experience
program only if:
(a)  appropriate  federal  and  state  standards of health, safety and
other work conditions are maintained;
(b) The number of hours a participant in  work  experience  activities
authorized  pursuant  to  this section shall be required to work in such
assignment shall  not  exceed  a  number  which  equals  the  amount  of
assistance  payable  with  respect  to such individual (inclusive of the
value of food stamps received by such individual, if any) divided by the
higher of (a) the federal minimum wage provided that such hours shall be
limited as set forth  in  subdivision  four  of  section  three  hundred
thirty-six of this title, or (b) the state minimum wage;
(c)  such recipients are provided appropriate workers' compensation or
equivalent protection for on-the-job injuries and tort claims protection
on the same basis, but not necessarily at the  same  benefit  level,  as
they  are  provided  to  other persons in the same or similar positions,
while participating in work experience activities under this section;
(d) the project to which the participant is assigned serves  a  useful
public  purpose in fields such as health, social services, environmental
protection, education, urban and rural  development  and  redevelopment,
welfare,  recreation, operation of public facilities, public safety, and
child day care;
(e) such assignment would not result in (i) the  displacement  of  any
currently  employed  worker  or  loss  of  position  (including  partial
displacement such as reduction in the hours of non-overtime work,  wages
or  employment  benefits)  or  result  in  the  impairment  of  existing
contracts for services or collective  bargaining  agreements;  (ii)  the
employment  or  assignment of a participant or the filling of a position
when any other person is on layoff  from  the  same  or  any  equivalent
position  or  the  employer has terminated the employment of any regular
employee or otherwise reduced its workforce with the effect  of  filling
the  vacancy  so  created  with  a participant assigned pursuant to this
section; (iii) any infringement of the promotional opportunities of  any
current  employed  person; or (iv) the performance, by such participant,
of a substantial portion of the work ordinarily and  actually  performed
by regular employees; or (v) the loss of a bargaining unit position as a
result  of work experience participants performing, in part or in whole,
the work normally performed by the employee in such position;
(f) such assignment is not at any  work  site  at  which  the  regular
employees  are  on  a  legal  strike  against  the employer or are being
subjected to lock out by the employer.
3. The public employer shall publish  on  a  monthly  basis  a  report
summarizing  the  employer's work experience program for the month. Such
monthly  report  shall  include,  at  a  minimum,  summary   information
regarding  the  agencies or departments where participants are assigned,
work locations, job duties and  assignments,  hours  worked  and  period
worked  and  shall  be  provided  to the certified collective bargaining
representative and may  not  be  disclosed  to  any  other  party.  Such
certified  collective  bargaining  representative  shall take reasonable
steps to protect the confidentiality of such information and shall  take
reasonable  steps  to  prevent  disclosure  of  same  to  non-authorized

persons. Every report provided pursuant to this section shall contain  a
warning  against  re-disclosure and asserting the confidentiality of the
information therein provided.
4.  In  assigning  a recipient who is a non-graduate student attending
CUNY,  SUNY  or  other  approved  non-profit  education,   training   or
vocational  rehabilitation  agency,  the  social services district must,
after consultation with officials of  CUNY,  SUNY  or  other  non-profit
education,  training  or  vocational  rehabilitation  agency, assign the
student to a work site on campus, where the recipient is  enrolled,  and
shall  not  unreasonably  assign the student to hours that conflict with
the  student's  academic  schedule,  if  an  approved  work   experience
assignment  is  available.  Where such work experience assignment is not
available, the social services district shall, to the  extent  possible,
assign  the  student  to  a work site within reasonable proximity to the
campus where the recipient is enrolled and shall not unreasonably assign
the student to hours that conflict with the student's academic schedule.
Provided, however, in order to qualify for a work experience  assignment
on-campus,  or  in  close  proximity  to  campus,  a student must have a
cumulative C average, or its equivalent.  The  district  may  waive  the
requirement  that  the  student  have  a  cumulative  C  average  or its
equivalent for undue hardship based on: (i) the death of a  relative  of
the  student;  (ii)  the  personal  injury or illness of the student; or
(iii) other extenuating circumstances.