California AB 692<\/a>, the amended statute more clearly outlines which training expenses may have repayment obligations and provides detailed guidance for repayment of tuition reimbursement related to \u201ctransferable credentials.\u201d \u201cTransferable credentials\u201d is defined as any degree, diploma, license, certificate, or documented evidence of skill proficiency or course completion that is widely recognized by employers in the relevant industry as a qualification for employment, independent of the employer\u2019s specific business practices, or that provides skills or qualifications that demonstrably enhance the employee\u2019s employability with other employers in the relevant industry. The amendment states that a \u201ctransferable credential\u201d does not include any employer-specific or non-transferable training or mandated safety and compliance training.<\/p>\nReimbursement of the cost of tuition, fees, and required educational materials for a transferable credential is permissible if the following requirements are met:<\/p>\n
(i) The agreement is in a written contract that is offered separately from any contract for employment.<\/p>\n
(ii) The agreement does not require the employee to obtain the transferable credential as a condition of employment.<\/p>\n
(iii) The agreement specifies the repayment amount before the employee agrees to the contract, and the repayment amount does not exceed the cost to the employer of the tuition, fees, and required educational materials for the transferable credential received by the employee.<\/p>\n
(iv) The agreement provides for a prorated repayment amount during any required employment period that is proportional to the total repayment amount and the length of the required employment period and does not require an accelerated payment schedule if the employee separates from the employment.<\/p>\n
(v) The agreement does not require repayment to the employer by the employee if the employee is terminated, except if the employee is terminated for misconduct.<\/p>\n
Authorized Agreements<\/p>\n
The amendment also provides clarity on other repayment obligations and specifically authorizes the following:<\/p>\n
Agreements that require the employee to repay a financial bonus, relocation assistance, or other non-educational incentive or other payment or benefit that is not tied to specific job performance, unless the employee was terminated for any reason other than misconduct or the duties or requirements of the job were misrepresented to the employee.Agreements requiring the employee to pay the employer for any property sold or leased to the employee, as long as such sale or lease was voluntary.Agreements requiring educational personnel to comply with the terms of sabbatical leaves.Agreements entered into as part of a program agreed by the employee\u2019s collective bargaining representative.Violations<\/p>\n
The law does not provide a private right of action. However, it calls for a complaint procedure with the commissioner of labor.<\/p>\n
Additionally, if an employee successfully defends an employer\u2019s lawsuit to enforce a promissory note made void by the law, the employee can recover attorney\u2019s fees. Violations of the law can subject the employer to fines of not less than $1,000, but not more than $5,000, for each violation. The amendment provides that the commissioner of labor would consider the size of the employer\u2019s business, good faith, the gravity of the violation, and history of prior violations in assessing the amount of the penalty.<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
Although the effective date has been delayed to Feb. 13, 2027, employers are encouraged to review their existing agreements in New York for compliance with the terms of the Act, including but not limited to tuition reimbursement agreements.<\/p>\n
Further guidance and regulations from the New York Department of Labor are expected closer to the law\u2019s effective date.<\/p>\n
Jackson Lewis attorneys are available to answer inquiries regarding this and other workplace developments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Takeaways An amendment to the New York \u201cTrapped at Work Act,\u201d which prohibits employers from requiring \u201cemployment promissory…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":140605,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[9,11,10,49,51,50],"class_list":{"0":"post-140604","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-headlines","10":"tag-new-york-news","11":"tag-new-york-state","12":"tag-new-york-state-headlines","13":"tag-new-york-state-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/140605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}