ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Phoenix, Arizona
Requires employers to
provide notice and employment benefits, including damages, to employees who
lose their jobs due to a plant closing or mass layoff. Establishes job protections for employees
who are affected by a plant closing or mass layoff resulting in a transfer of
work to a low wage foreign country.
The U.S. Department of Labor
Employment and Training Administration is responsible for administering a
number of acts and programs that attempt to assist dislocated workers,
including the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, the
Economic Dislocation and Worker Adjustment Assistance (EDWAA) Act and the Trade
Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program.
WARN provides protection to
workers, their families and communities by requiring employers to provide
notice 60 days in advance of plant closings and mass layoffs. It also provides
for notice to state dislocated worker units so that dislocated worker
assistance can be promptly provided.
Advance notice provides workers and their families some transition time
to adjust to the prospective loss of employment, to seek and obtain alternative
jobs and, if necessary, to enter skill training and retraining that will allow
these workers to successfully compete in the job market.
Dislocated workers whose
employment loss means they are unlikely to return to their previous industries
or occupations are eligible for assistance under EDWAA. The TAA program
provides aid to workers who lose their jobs or whose hours of work and wages
are reduced as a result of increased imports. Each state is responsible for
administering and managing each program, which entails an array of retraining
and re-employment services tailored to meet workers’ individual needs,
including long-term job preparation and needs-related payments, to assist
workers in their transition from old jobs to new jobs.
According to the Arizona
American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AZ AFL-CIO),
marketing practices and location assistance, such as tax relief, subsidies,
infrastructure development or other economic benefits, are offered by a state
or other political subdivisions to businesses as a way to attract major
industries. When industries export jobs
or are threatened by offshore labor, the state and its communities are
presented with dislocated workers and lost revenues.
To assist affected employees
of plant closings or mass layoffs due to a transfer of work to a low wage
foreign country, S.B. 1244 requires employers to provide notice to affected
employees at least 180 days in advance of the plant closing or mass layoff and
various benefits, including healthcare costs, job retraining costs and pension
benefits. In addition, S.B. 1244 makes
an employer who implements a plant closing or mass layoff in violation of
prescribed requirements liable to each affected employee for damages and
equitable relief and to the state or the unit of local government for location
assistance provided to the employer.
This legislation has no
determinable fiscal impact to the state general fund.
1. Prohibits an employer from implementing a plant closing or mass layoff at a site of employment due to a transfer of work to a low wage foreign country unless the employer provides at least 180 days notice and provides specified benefits to employees.
2. Exempts an employer who orders a plant closing or mass layoff from notice and employee benefits requirements if the employer proves that the work transfer to a low wage foreign country is unrelated to the closing or mass layoff.
3. Requires an employer who implements a plant closing or mass layoff to provide written notice of the closing or mass layoff to specified individuals. Specifies notice requirements.
4. Requires an employer to provide specified benefits to each employee who suffers an employment loss due to a plant closing or mass layoff. These benefits include severance pay, group health insurance coverage for 18 months, reimbursement of job search and relocation costs, incentive payments for job training and pension benefits.
5. Requires an employer who implements a plant closing or mass layoff to establish an employee benefit account into which an employer is required to make payments to sufficiently fund the amount of the employee benefits. Requires the account to be managed by five individuals selected by the employer and the affected employees.
6. Requires the Industrial Commission to adopt rules relating to the establishment and management of employee benefit accounts.
7. Prohibits an employer who implements a plant closing or mass layoff but does not provide notice or benefits from entering into a contract with this state for the provision of products or services involved, or similar to those, in the work transfer.
8. Authorizes the Industrial Commission to investigate any alleged or suspected violations relating to the provisions pertaining to jobs protection to ensure compliance.
9. Requires the Industrial Commission to receive, investigate and attempt to resolve complaints of violations relating to the provisions pertaining to the limitation on work transfer to low wage foreign countries.
10. Specifies that an employer who implements a plant closing or mass layoff in violation is liable for certain damages and equitable relief to each employee who suffers an employment loss due to the closing or mass layoff.
11. Allows one or more affected employees to take legal action to recover the certain damages or equitable relief against an employer for or on behalf of either those employees or those employees and other similarly situated employees.
12. Allows the Industrial Commission to bring legal action to recover certain damages on behalf of each employee who suffers an employment loss due to a plant closing or mass layoff in violation.
13. Requires any amounts recovered be held in a special deposit account and be paid directly to the employee on order of the Director of the Industrial Commission.
14. Requires amounts unpaid to the employee, due to an inability within three years from date of recovery by the Industrial Commission, be deposited in the state general fund.
15. Specifies that an employer who implements a plant closing or mass layoff in violation is liable for certain damages to the state or the local governing body in which the employer is located. Allows this state or a local governing body to take legal action to recover certain damages against an employer, such as any local assistance provided to the employer.
16. Requires the court, in addition to awarding any judgment to the plaintiff, in an action to provide that reasonable attorney and expert witness fees and other costs of the action be paid by the defendant.
17. Prohibits any action against an employer from being brought three years after the alleged violation. Specifies that an action is considered commenced by the Industrial Commission on the date when the complaint has been filed.
18. Provides the superior court jurisdiction, for cause shown, over an action brought by the Industrial Commission to restrain plant closing- or mass layoff-related violations.
19. Specifies that these employment rights and remedies are in addition to, and not in lieu of, any other contractual or statutory rights and remedies of the employees. Specifies that the period of notification must be concurrent with any period of notification required by contract or by any other law.
20. Requires each employer to post in conspicuous places a notice prepared or approved by the Industrial Commission of pertinent provisions and information pertaining to the filing of a charge.
21. Defines terms.
22. Contains a delayed effective date of December 31, 2001.
Amendments
Adopted by Committee
Makes technical changes
COM 1/31/01 DPA 4-2-0-0
Prepared by Senate Staff
January 29, 2001