N.Y. Labor Law § 501 (2026)

§ 501. Public policy of state.  As a guide to the interpretation and
application of this article, the public policy of this state is declared
to be as follows: Economic insecurity due to unemployment is a serious
menace to the health, welfare, and morale of the people of this state.
Involuntary unemployment is therefore a subject of general interest and
concern which requires appropriate action by the legislature to prevent
its spread and to lighten its burden, which now so often falls with
crushing force upon the unemployed worker and his family. After
searching examination of the effects of widespread unemployment within
the state, the joint legislative committee on unemployment appointed
pursuant to a joint resolution adopted April ninth, nineteen hundred
thirty-one, reported to the legislature that "the problem of
unemployment can better be met by the so-called compulsory unemployment
insurance plan than it is now handled by the barren actualities of poor
relief assistance backed by compulsory contribution through taxation.
Once the facts are apprehended this conclusion is precipitated with the
certainty of a chemical reaction. " Taking into account the report of
its own committee, together with facts tending to support it which are
matters of common knowledge, the legislature therefore declares that in
its considered judgment the public good and the well-being of the wage
earners of this state require the enactment of this measure for the
compulsory setting aside of financial reserves for the benefit of
persons unemployed through no fault of their own.