Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 12, March 20, 2024
Application for certification of a business enterprise shall
be made on a form prescribed by the commissioner, which may include, but not be
limited to:
(a) Identification of
applicant:
(1) name and form of business
organization of applicant;
(2)
taxpayer identification number;
(3)
New York State unemployment insurance registration number; and
(4) names of parent, subsidiary and
affiliated business organizations, if any.
(b) Description of existing business,
including:
(1) list of addresses of each
facility in New York State;
(2)
list of goods and services produced at each facility in New York
State;
(3) number of employees at
each facility in New York State as of the March 31st, June 30th, September 30th
or December 31st preceding the date of the application, whichever is latest;
and
(4) names of the workers'
compensation and disability benefits insurance carriers and policy numbers for
each existing facility in New York State.
(c) Information and certification regarding
compliance with laws for the protection of workers, including:
(1) all determinations by administrative
agencies or courts that the applicant or any of its officers or directors
violated any Federal or State law for the protection of workers within the
preceding three years, including laws regulating labor standards,
discrimination in employment, provision of workers' compensation or disability
insurance, unemployment insurance tax liability and occupational safety and
health;
(2) description of any
denial of services to the applicant by the New York State Department of Labor's
Employment Service within the preceding three years; and
(3) a certification by the applicant that it
is not currently and, other than as indicated in the application, has not for
the preceding three years, been found by an administrative agency or court to
be in violation of any Federal or State law for the protection of
workers.
(d) Description
of business to be conducted in facility located in or planned for the empire
zone, including:
(1) identification of
owner;
(2) identification of
operator;
(3) location of
facility;
(4) list of goods and
services to be produced;
(5)
four-digit North American industrial classification code of business of zone
facility, if code is known;
(6)
total annual sales projected for zone facility;
(7) total annual retail sales of tangible
personal property projected for zone facility;
(8) whether the business has previously
applied for certification and been denied; and
(9) whether the business has previously
received a certification which has been revoked.
(e) Description of investment to be made in
the facility, including:
(1) any
construction, rehabilitation or renovation;
(2) purchase or lease of equipment;
(3) estimated total cost of investment;
and
(4) estimated schedule for
start of any construction, rehabilitation or renovation of the facility and for
completion.
(f) Existing
and projected additional employment at facility, including:
(1) number of existing full-time employees
and number of existing part-time employees; and
(2) projected number of additional full-time
and part-time positions to be created within 12 months and within 24 months as
a result of investment in the zone, for positions in which a substantial part
of the work will be performed in the zone, listed by occupation, including
starting wages and promotional opportunities.
(g) To be eligible for certification, a
business enterprise must agree, in its application for certification, to:
(1) list, for purposes of recruitment, all
openings for jobs and training programs in the empire zone, exclusive of
general executive officers, with the local job service office of the New York
State Department of Labor or demonstrate to the satisfaction of the
commissioner and the Commissioner of Labor what other comparable methods will
be used to recruit targeted individuals for such openings. For the purposes of
this Part, the term targeted individual shall mean a New York resident who is:
(i) an eligible individual under the
provisions of the work opportunity tax credit (Internal Revenue Code section
51, as added by P.L. 95-30 and subsequently amended);
(ii) eligible for benefits under the
provisions of the Workforce Investment Act (
29
U.S.C. section 2801 et seq., as added by
P.L.
105-220 and subsequently amended) as a dislocated
worker or low-income individual;
(iii) a recipient of public assistance
benefits;
(iv) an individual whose
income is below the most recently established poverty rate promulgated by the
United States Department of Commerce, or a member of a family whose family
income is below the most recently established poverty rate promulgated by the
appropriate Federal agency; or
(v)
an honorably discharged veteran from any branch of the Armed Forces;
(2) submit the information
specified in section
11.7
of this Part to the local empire zone administrator and the State;
and
(3) not shift its operations,
or some portion thereof, to an empire zone from an area within New York State
which has not been designated an empire zone, unless the shift in operations is
entirely within a municipality and has been approved by the local government
body of such municipality or in situations where it has been established, after
a public hearing, that extraordinary circumstances exist which warrant the
relocation of a business, in whole or in part, into an empire zone from another
municipality and the municipality from which the business is relocating
approves of such relocation; or where such shift in operations is from a
business incubator facility operated by a municipality or by a public or
private not-for-profit entity which provides space and business support
services to newly established firms;
(4) authorize the Commissioner of Labor to
disclose, to employees of both the New York State Departments of Labor and
Economic Development, as well as the local empire zone administrative board,
all records filed by the company in making unemployment insurance (U.I.)
reports and contributions required by State Labor and Tax Law, including, but
not limited to, all information contained in or relating to the quarterly
combined withholding, wage reporting and U.I. returns, the registration for
U.I., the new hire file, and all records of U.I. delinquencies. In addition,
this authorization shall include all information contained in any survey
reports requested by the Department of Labor on behalf of the U.S. Department
of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics including, but not limited to, the current
employment, occupational employment, multiple worksite, and annual refiling
surveys. The use of information and records released pursuant to this
authorization shall be limited to government purposes concerning the
certification of this company for empire zone benefits and incentives under
article 18-B of the General Municipal Law, monitoring compliance with empire
zone program criteria, and reviewing the performance of empire zone
programs;
(5) certify that the
business enterprise, or its agent, has disclosed all violations during the
three years preceding the submission of this application for certification,
involving violations of the laws regulating unemployment insurance, workers'
compensation, public work, child labor, employment of minorities and women,
safety and health, labor standards, or other laws for the protection of workers
or environmental conservation, and acknowledges that a failure to disclose this
information or a failure to respond to the requests to completion, or updating,
of the information requested herein, may result in a denial of
certification.
(h) A
business enterprise that applies for any tax, utility rate or management
assistance benefits provided by the New York State Empire Zone Act shall, in
its application for certification, acknowledge in writing the obligation to
provide 90 days' written notice to the commissioner, the local empire zone, the
local empire zone administrative board, and the employees of the business
enterprise of any intent to close or partially close a facility within the
zone. Upon receiving such notice, the commissioner shall immediately send
copies thereof to the Commissioner of Labor and the director of the Job
Training Partnership Council. For purposes of this subdivision, closing shall
mean the permanent termination of operations of a business facility, and
partial closing shall mean the permanent termination of a portion of the
operations of a business facility that will immediately reduce the work force
by 50 employees or more or will reduce the work force by at least 50 percent
over a one-year period, whichever is greater.