N.Y. LAB Law § 501

§ 501. Public policy of state. As a guide to the interpretation and\napplication of this article, the public policy of this state is declared\nto be as follows: Economic insecurity due to unemployment is a serious\nmenace to the health, welfare, and morale of the people of this state.\nInvoluntary unemployment is therefore a subject of general interest and\nconcern which requires appropriate action by the legislature to prevent\nits spread and to lighten its burden, which now so often falls with\ncrushing force upon the unemployed worker and his family. After\nsearching examination of the effects of widespread unemployment within\nthe state, the joint legislative committee on unemployment appointed\npursuant to a joint resolution adopted April ninth, nineteen hundred\nthirty-one, reported to the legislature that "the problem of\nunemployment can better be met by the so-called compulsory unemployment\ninsurance plan than it is now handled by the barren actualities of poor\nrelief assistance backed by compulsory contribution through taxation.\nOnce the facts are apprehended this conclusion is precipitated with the\ncertainty of a chemical reaction. " Taking into account the report of\nits own committee, together with facts tending to support it which are\nmatters of common knowledge, the legislature therefore declares that in\nits considered judgment the public good and the well-being of the wage\nearners of this state require the enactment of this measure for the\ncompulsory setting aside of financial reserves for the benefit of\npersons unemployed through no fault of their own.\n