Recently Asked Questions (RAQs)

[NOTE: This submission is based on real-life questions about the new requirement imposed by New York State Labor Law Section 590(2).]

I heard that as of November 13, 2023, ALL employers in New York must notify an employee of the ability to apply for Unemployment Benefits upon "separation of employment" OR if their regular weekly hours are reduced to below 30.  I have several questions:

Is this true?

Does this new law really apply to ALL employers in New York (even a town or village public library)?

Does the new law apply even if the employee is resigning or retiring?

Does the new law apply to no-show employees or others who may have abandoned their employment?

Is there a form for this notice?

When does this notice have to be provided?

Why was this law passed?

Is there a model policy for this law?

Are public library systems and public libraries (association, municipal, special district, school district) required to pay prevailing wage? It is highly recommended to pay the prevailing wage for work done using the NY State Aid for Library Construction Program funds. What about other projects - like electrician, snow removal, plowing, and plumbing that do not go out to bid? How does one know if a contract is signed with a vendor - and that vendor decides to subcontract?

Is it dependent upon the 501 (C) status?

I have always been under the impression that it is illegal for public libraries to fundraise on their own, aside from 2 book sales per year. If a school district public library no longer has a Friends Group, can it host fundraisers? For example, could the library itself host a bingo night and raise money? Can a school district public library send out a fundraising letter?

Or is it important that all library staff and trustees refrain from fundraising efforts in order to separate public funds from fundraising? I am struggling because we have a lot of great ideas, but the future of our Friends Group is unclear. I am wondering what options are available to me as a library director, and my Board of Trustees, if the Friends Group were to dissolve.

Thank you so much.

The [NAME REDACTED] Public Library has a materials selection policy in place. When recently updating the policy, trustees had questions about the "responsibility" section which states:

"Authority and responsibility for the selection of library resources is delegated to the Library Director by the Board of Trustees. At the discretion of the Library Director, staff who are qualified by reason of education, training and experience are given the responsibility to select resources within the framework of this policy."

The question we have is should the word "delegated" be used in this context. The Handbook for Library Trustees includes sections stating that the board is legally responsible for all aspects of the library as an institution and have broad and almost exclusive powers and authority to administer the library. We wonder if the delegated section is correct, or if the responsibility section should just say that the Library Director is responsible for the selection of library resources.

Background: On Jan 1, 2023 we instituted several changes to employee time off accrual policies. We constructed the new vacation accrual policies carefully and gave some of our more senior staff "legacy policies" in order to not decrease any current employee's vacation accrual rate. However, we DID institute a cap on the number of vacation hours an employee could bank at any given time (1/2 a year for FT staff, and 1/4 yr FTE for PT staff). We did this for two reasons: 1) to mitigate financial risk to our library in the event of unforeseen separations, when we pay out any unused vacation time, and 2) to encourage staff to take regular vacations, which prevents burnout and encourages us to understand each other's job responsibilities better when covering for someone else.

Unfortunately, the vacation cap has had some unintended consequences. Some staff members are reticent to take vacation and are bumping up against the cap each month, which effectively means their compensation is being reduced. Also, our PT staff work varying number of hours per week (20-32) but we don't prorate the PT vacation cap (for logistical reasons), which makes it difficult for staff who work close to FT hours to save up enough time to take a longer vacation, or multiple vacations in a relatively short period.

My legal question is: If we were to change our time off accrual policy to allow staff to bank as much vacation as they like but specify that upon separation they could only be paid out 'x' number of hours, could we be accused of wage theft?