NOTICE OF ADOPTION
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN PURSUANT TO THE AUTHORITY VESTED IN the
Commissioner of the Department of Small Business Services (the “Commissioner”) pursuant to
section 1301 of the New York City Charter and in accordance with the provisions of section
1043 of the New York City Charter that the Department of Small Business Services promulgates
and adopts Subchapter F of Title 66 of the Rules of the City of New York to govern the
administration of a program that provides grants to companies that provide school bus
transportation in order to encourage such companies to maintain the wages and benefits of those
employees who have had prior experience in the industry.
Written comments regarding the rules were received in accordance with the notice published in
the City Record on October 13, 2017 or electronically through NYC RULES at
www.nyc.gov/nycrules. A public hearing was held on November 15, 2017.
Statement of Basis and Purpose of Rule
During the 2014-15, 2015-16, and 2016-17 school years, the Department of Small Business Services (DSBS) administered a grant program to support the employment of experienced school bus workers who have been impacted by changes in the Department of Education’s (DOE) contracts for school bus transportation. Pursuant to the authority vested in DSBS by New York City Charter § 1301, DSBS is proposing a rule that would continue the grant program for the 2017-18 school year.
Since 1979, following a school bus strike, DOE’s school bus contracts included employee protection provisions (EPPs) requiring school transportation contractors, among other things, to give priority in hiring to employees who became unemployed because of their employers’ loss of DOE bus contract work and to pay such employees the same wages and benefits they had received prior to becoming unemployed.
Following the 2011 decision by the New York State Court of Appeals in L&M Bus Corp., et al., v. the New York City Department of Education, et al. (L&M), DOE did not include EPPs or similar provisions in solicitations for its school bus contracts. After the issuance of the first such post-L&M solicitation, there was a school bus strike in January and February of 2013.
DSBS’s grant program, created by Local Law 44 of 2014, was designed to encourage school bus contractors providing transportation services to DOE to maintain the wages and benefits of those employees who had prior experience in the industry. The 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17 grant programs successfully supported the employment of approximately 1200 school bus workers. This proposed rule continues the school bus employee grant program for the 2017-18 school year.
