BILL NUMBER: S8589B
SPONSOR: MAY
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the labor law, in relation to enacting the "automation
displacement protection act"
 
PURPOSE:
To require advance notice, transparency, and a guaranteed transition
period when employers replace human work with artificial intelligence or
automated systems, so that workers are not forced out of their jobs
without time to prepare or pursue retraining.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 provides the short title.
Section 2 sets out legislative findings about the rapid use of AI and
automated systems and the need for fair notice and retraining opportu-
nities.
Section 3 creates a new Article 25 D of the Labor Law. It defines
covered employers, artificial intelligence systems, technological
displacement, and employment loss. It requires covered employers to
provide at least ninety days' written notice before automation driven
job reductions affecting twenty five employees or twenty five percent of
the workforce. It requires employers to give detailed notice to workers,
labor representatives, the Department of Labor, local officials, and
workforce development boards. It establishes a ninety day transition
period during which affected workers must be offered continued employ-
ment, equivalent wages, or employer funded retraining in an approved
program. It restricts termination during the transition period to cases
of just cause. It bars employers that violate the notice or transition
provisions from receiving state grants, loans, or tax incentives for
five years. It directs the Department of Labor to maintain a public
registry of violators. It authorizes back pay, administrative penalties,
and enforcement by the Attorney General.
Section 4 provides for immediate effect.
 
EXISTING LAW:
New York's WARN Act requires notice of large scale layoffs and plant
closures, but it does not cover job loss caused by the introduction of
automated systems. Existing law does not require employers to disclose
the use of AI systems that reduce or eliminate human work, nor does it
provide a structured transition period or retraining guarantees for
workers displaced by automation.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
Across New York, workers are already living through automation driven
cuts, but they experience them in silence because the law has not caught
up. Employers can switch to AI systems without calling it a layoff, even
when the impact is identical. Hours shrink, whole job functions disap-
pear, and workers have no warning because nothing in current law
requires employers to acknowledge what they are doing. A person can
spend years mastering a job, show up one morning, and be blindsided as
they find their role replaced by a system they never knew was being
tested.
Workers deserve better than learning after the fact that they have been
displaced by a technology investment their employer kept under wraps.
The Automation Displacement Protection Act recognizes that technological
displacement is still displacement. It demands basic respect and trans-
parency from employers that choose to replace human labor with automated
systems. Ninety days' notice is not a heavy lift for any business
preparing to install an AI system. It is the minimum amount of time
workers need to brace for the financial and personal upheaval that
follows the loss of hours or wages.
The transition period is equally important. If an employer decides to
automate a job, the cost of that choice should not be shifted entirely
onto the worker. Continued employment, equivalent wages, or employer
funded retraining are practical and reasonable expectations. They help
workers stay attached to the labor force, avoid sudden income loss, and
gain access to skills that may keep them employed in a changing indus-
try. Without those guarantees, the speed of technological change falls
hardest on the people with the least power to absorb it.
The bill also ensures that public money does not reward employers who
cut corners at workers' expense. If a business cannot comply with basic
notice and transition requirements, it should not receive state grants,
loans, or tax incentives. That standard protects both workers and
taxpayers and creates an even playing field for the employers who
already treat their workforce with fairness.
Automation will continue, but New York mudt insist that workers are not
treated as collateral in the process. It sets clear expectations for how
employers manage automation driven changes and gives workers the time,
stability, and opportunities they need to navigate a shifting economy.
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
Minimal. Administrative responsibilities can be fulfilled within exist-
ing resources.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately.