Assembly Bill No. 506-Committee on Labor and Management
May 19, 1997
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Referred to Committee on Labor and Management
SUMMARY--Revises provisions concerning involuntary termination of employment. (BDR 53-1301)
FISCAL NOTE: Effect on Local Government: Yes.
Effect on the State or on Industrial Insurance: Yes.
EXPLANATION - Matter in italics is new; matter in brackets [ ] is material to be omitted.
AN ACT relating to employment practices; requiring the labor commissioner and the department of employment, training and rehabilitation to establish a program to assist dislocated workers; requiring a business to give advance notice of certain management decisions; requiring a business to make reports concerning such decisions; prohibiting certain acts related to such reporting; requiring a business to extend certain benefits and privileges to its former employees; requiring the labor commissioner to adopt necessary regulations; providing a penalty; and providing other matters properly relating thereto.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEVADA, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEMBLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1 Chapter 613 of NRS is hereby amended by adding thereto the provisions set forth as sections 2 to 24, inclusive, of this act.
Sec. 2 As used in sections 2 to 24, inclusive, of this act, unless the context otherwise requires, the words and terms defined in sections 3 to 13, inclusive, of this act have the meanings ascribed to them in those sections.
Sec. 3 "Affiliated business" means a business entity organized pursuant to the laws of this state or any other state in which another business owns a controlling interest.
Sec. 4 "Business" means a person who employed 50 or more employees in this state at any time during the preceding year.
Sec. 5 "Commissioner" means the labor commissioner.
Sec. 6 "Department" means the department of business and industry.
Sec. 7 "Dislocated worker" means a person who has, because of a management decision:
1. Been terminated or laid off from his employment;
2. Received a notice of termination or layoff; or
3. Been unemployed for more than 3 months,
and is eligible for or has exhausted his unemployment compensation benefits.
Sec. 8 "Economic necessity" means necessary to enable a business to:
1. Remain competitive with similar businesses in this state; or
2. Continue to operate in its current location.
Sec. 9 "Employee" means a natural person who is employed by a business on a full-time or part-time basis for compensation.
Sec. 10 "Management decision" includes, without limitation, any act by a business that results in:
1. A substantial layoff or termination;
2. An involuntary reduction in the working hours of not less than 30 of its employees to less than 40 working hours each week;
3. The sale, transfer, merger or takeover of the business;
4. The complete or partial closing of the business; or
5. The relocation of a substantial portion of the operations of the business.
Sec. 11 "Stakeholder" means any person that is economically impacted by a management decision, including, without limitation:
1. An employee and his immediate family; and
2. An agency of the Federal Government, this state or a political subdivision of this state that is providing or may be required to provide services or assistance to an employee or his immediate family.
Sec. 12 "Substantial layoff or termination" means a layoff or termination of employment by a business of not less than 30 of its employees within 90 days.
Sec. 13 "Temporary layoff or termination" means a layoff or termination of employment by a business of not less than 30 of its employees for a designated period after which the business intends to refill the positions of its former employees.
Sec. 14 The commissioner and the department of employment, training and rehabilitation:
1. Shall establish a program to assist dislocated workers to obtain employment. The program must include:
(a) Compiling a weekly list of jobs available in each county of this state.
(b) Providing job training for dislocated workers and directing them to other organizations that provide job training.
(c) Providing financial assistance for the commuting expenses, expenses relating to day care for children and career counseling expenses of dislocated workers.
(d) Identifying job opportunities that exist in each county of this state for which dislocated workers may be retrained.
2. May conduct such other programs in cooperation with businesses, labor organizations and other agencies of this state as necessary to prevent a substantial layoff or termination and to provide early intervention in the event of a substantial layoff or termination.
Sec. 15 1. A management decision:
(a) Must be based upon economic necessity.
(b) Must not result in a decrease in the wages of an employee, unless the employee consents to the decrease in writing.
2. If a management decision that decreases the wages of an employee or the duration of his employment is contained in a collective bargaining agreement, it must be:
(a) Written in terms that can be easily understood by an ordinary person; and
(b) Consented to in writing by the affected bargaining unit of employees.
3. A business shall provide to each of its employees, and each agency of this state or political subdivision thereof, impacted economically by a management decision, a written notice not less than 60 days before the effective date of the management decision. The commissioner shall establish by regulation which agencies must receive such a notice.
Sec. 16 1. A business shall submit a feasibility report to the department and to the department of employment, training and rehabilitation not less than 120 days before the effective date of a management decision. The form of the report must be established by the commissioner.
2. The report must set forth:
(a) The economic necessity of the management decision.
(b) Whether there are alternatives to the management decision. The alternatives that must be addressed include, without limitation:
(1) Retraining or transferring employees to fill current job vacancies within the business or an affiliated business.
(2) Developing new products, services or production processes.
(3) Developing programs to increase demand for the product or service of the business.
(4) Employee or new ownership.
(c) Any other information required by the commissioner.
Sec. 17 1. Each business shall submit an economic impact report to the department and to the department of employment, training and rehabilitation not less than 120 days before the effective date of a management decision. The form of the report must be established by the commissioner.
2. The report must address:
(a) The economic impact of the management decision on:
(1) Stakeholders; and
(2) Each class of employees protected pursuant to any federal law or law of this state.
(b) Any other items required by the commissioner.
3. The report must include a questionnaire completed by each employee that will be affected by the management decision to assist the department in determining whether the business is using the management decision in a discriminatory or retaliatory manner. The form of the questionnaire must be determined by the equal rights commission of the department of employment, training and rehabilitation.
Sec. 18 1. The department shall evaluate each of the reports required pursuant to sections 16 and 17 of this act and report its findings to the commissioner within 30 days after receiving the reports.
2. Each of the reports required pursuant to subsection 1 and sections 16 and 17 of this act are public records.
Sec. 19 1. It is unlawful for a business to provide a false statement of material fact in a report required pursuant to section 16 or 17 of this act or to fail to comply with the requirements of those sections.
2. A person who violates subsection 1 is guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by a fine of $10,000.
Sec. 20 1. A business shall establish and maintain a reemployment priority list for 2 years after the effective date of a management decision for the purpose of reemploying its former employees who became dislocated workers because of the management decision.
2. In filling positions within the business and any affiliated business, a business shall:
(a) Give employees on the reemployment priority list priority consideration over all other applicants.
(b) Notify former employees on the reemployment priority list of all available positions in the business and any affiliated business.
3. If a dislocated worker must relocate to fill a vacancy in an affiliated business, the business that effected the management decision shall pay 50 percent of the dislocated worker's costs of relocation.
Sec. 21 1. Except as otherwise provided in subsections 2 and 3, a dislocated worker who is reemployed with a business or an affiliated business after a management decision is entitled to the same:
(a) Rate of pay;
(b) Departmental and company seniority; and
(c) Health plan and medical and insurance benefits,
as he had when he was last employed by the business.
2. A business does not have to pay for the health plan or medical insurance of a dislocated worker who has been determined by an insurance company to have a preexisting medical condition.
3. An employee may waive his right to any of the privileges set forth in subsection 1. Such a waiver must be in writing and must not be a condition of reemployment.
Sec. 22 A business that effects a management decision without complying with the provisions of sections 2 to 24, inclusive, of this act shall pay to each dislocated worker:
1. An amount equal to the value of all of his wages, benefits and other compensation for the 3 months immediately preceding the management decision.
2. For the 12 months immediately following the management decision, 50 percent of the dislocated worker's payment required for the continuation of insurance coverage pursuant to 29 U.S.C. §§ 1161 et seq., if the dislocated worker qualifies for such continued insurance coverage and has elected to retain it.
Sec. 23 The commissioner shall adopt such regulations as are necessary to carry out the provisions of sections 2 to 24, inclusive, of this act.
Sec. 24 An action by a stakeholder to enforce the provisions of sections 2 to 24, inclusive, of this act may be maintained in any court of competent jurisdiction.
Sec. 25 The amendatory provisions of this act do not apply to offenses that are committed before the effective date of this act.
Sec. 26 The provisions of subsection 1 of NRS 354.599 do not apply to any additional expenses of a local government that are related to the provisions of this act.