S.181 (Kaplan) / A.3388 (Lavine)

STAFF CONTACT :

Director, Workforce Development
518.694.4465

BILL

S.181 (Kaplan) / A.3388 (Lavine)

SUBJECT

Background Clearances for Temporary Childcare Employment

DATE

Support

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The Business Council of New York State, Inc. supports S.181 (Kaplan) / A.3388 (Lavine) which would allow temporary childcare employment agencies to access the Statewide Central Register for Child Abuse and Maltreatment in order to approve temporary staff to be eligible for employment at childcare facilities in New York. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought the significant role childcare plays in our society and economy to the forefront. Even prior to the pandemic, the expansion of universal pre-K across the state has caused a strain on childcare centers who struggled to remain open with the high cost of doing business and providing care primarily for infants and toddlers. Across the state, many providers struggled to stay open and faced difficulties finding the necessary talent to staff their businesses. The pandemic clearly exasperated the situation, and centers continue to face staff shortages as well as the added costs of operating safely in during the current public health crisis. 

Temporary staffing agencies have sought to serve workforce challenges in a variety of industries and present one solution to staffing in childcare facilities specifically. This legislation is necessary to allow these agencies access to the Statewide Central Register for Child Abuse and Maltreatment so temporary staff can be fully fingerprinted and background checked for employment in childcare facilities. In doing so, this bill also provides the opportunity of securing full-time employment for the temporary staff should the centers seek to keep the best talent from the staffing agency, something that often happens. It also gives childcare centers the benefit of having on-call staff available in times of temporary shortages without the need to carry additional on-call staff, which provides centers with a modest operational cost-savings. 

This simple amendment to state law allows more New Yorkers access to employment opportunities while serving the growing need for childcare options for working parents. 

The Business Council supports programs that ensure New York has the qualified workforce needed to further grow our economy. As such, the Business Council supports S.181 (Kaplan) / A.3388 (Lavine), which would allow temporary childcare employment agencies to access the Statewide Central Register for Child Abuse and Maltreatment in order to approve temporary staff to be eligible for employment at childcare facilities in New York.