New York Employment Law

New York Labor Law 2019: October

Posted on October 28, 2019April 4, 2022 by try HRIS

New York Labor Law had two updates to legislation this month. These include the expansion of the Human Rights Law Coverage and New Human Rights Guidance to the NYCHRL.

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New York Labor Law Update 1:

NYC Human Rights Law Coverage Expanded

This legislation further defines coverage specifications.

On October 13, 2019, the New York City Council enacted legislation Int. No. 136-A to amend the city’s Human Rights Law to clarify the following:

Covered employers do not include those with fewer than four employees at all times during the period beginning twelve months before the start of an unlawful discriminatory practice and continuing through the end of it. Additionally, an employer’s parent, spouse, domestic partner or child working for are included in determining employee count only, not for legal governance.
Covered employees include all the following:
- Independent contractors.
- Interns and freelancers.

The law is effective January 11, 2020.

New York Labor Law Update 2:

New York City Commission Provides New Human Rights Guidance

New legal enforcement guidance on the Human Rights Law protecting against discrimination.

In September 2019, the New York City Commission on Human Rights released new legal enforcement guidance on the New York City Human Rights Law’s (NYCHRL) protections against discrimination based on actual or perceived immigration status and actual or perceived national origin. The NYCHRL prohibits discrimination on the basis of actual or perceived alienage and citizenship status, and national origin, among other categories by most employers in New York City.

If these law alerts give you more questions than answers, our advisors can help your company navigate every new change, requirement, legislation, law and regulation. Give us a call to see how we can help streamline HR for professionals or office managers.

Previous Law Alerts

New York Labor Law 2019 Updates: August

Federal Employment Law 2019 Updates: September

New York Law Alert: August 2019

Posted on August 12, 2019June 22, 2022 by try HRIS

The month of August brought about four Law Alerts, further defining protections and legislation. New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo, signed legislations with further stipulations regarding Discrimination.

tryHRIS’s membership has an exclusive Regulatory Compliance Database, which alerts you the moment Federal & State laws, regulations or requirements change.

Download the full details of this Law Alert Here.

NY Law Alert: Discrimination Against Victims of Domestic Violence

On August 20, 2019, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed legislation (NY S.B. 1040) revising the state law from January 10, 2019. This revision adds the status as a victim of domestic violence to the protected classes under the state’s Human Rights Law and thereby prohibiting employers from discriminating against victims of domestic violence. Specifically, it is an unlawful discriminatory practice for an employer, because of any individual’s status as a victim of domestic violence, to:

Refuse to hire, employ, or license;
Bar or discharge from employment; or
Discriminate against in compensation or in terms, conditions, or privileges of employment.

The law includes prohibitions against inquiring, generally or within a job application, about an individual’s status as a victim of domestic violence, reasonable accommodation protections, notice requirements, certification provisions, and informational confidentiality.

The law is effective November 18, 2019.

NY Law Update: Increased Anti-Discrimination Protections

On August 12, 2019, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed legislation (A.B. 8421) increasing protections under the state’s anti-discrimination law as follows:

Effective August 12, 2019: every employer must provide employees, in writing in English and in the language identified by each employee as their primary language, at the time of hire and at every annual sexual harassment prevention training provided, a notice containing the employer’s sexual harassment prevention policy and the information presented its sexual harassment prevention training program.
Effective October 11, 2019:
- A private employer is defined as any person, company, corporation, labor organization, or association.
- Mandatory arbitration clauses related to discrimination are prohibited and nondisclosure agreements related to discrimination are prohibited. Any nondisclosure agreement entered into on or after January 1, 2020 that prevents the disclosure of factual information related to any future claim of discrimination is void and unenforceable unless it notifies the employee or potential employee that it does not prohibit them from speaking with law enforcement, the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the state Division of Human Rights, a local commission on human rights, or an attorney.

The state’s harassment provisions are expanded as follows:

It is unlawful for an employer to subject any individual to harassment because of their age, race, creed, color, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, military status, sex, disability, predisposing genetic characteristics, familial status, marital status, domestic violence victim status (protected status), for opposing illegal behavior, or for filing a complaint, regardless of whether the harassment would be considered severe or pervasive under precedent applied to harassment claims. Domestic workers are afforded these protections as well.
Such harassment is an unlawful discriminatory practice when it subjects an individual to inferior terms, conditions, or privileges of employment because of the individual’s membership in one or more of those protected categories. Unlawful discriminatory practices relating to non-employees are expanded, as well, as opposed to only protecting non-employees against sexual harassment.
The fact that the individual did not complain about the harassment to the employer is not determinative of whether the employer is liable.
An employee is not required to demonstrate the existence of an individual to whom the employee’s treatment must be compared.
It is an affirmative defense to liability that the harassing conduct does not rise above the level of what a reasonable victim of discrimination with the same protected characteristic would consider petty slights or trivial inconveniences.

Effective February 8, 2020, the state’s Human Rights Law (at N.Y. Exec. Law § 292) extends its coverage to all employers within the state, as opposed to excluding those with fewer than four employees.

Effective August 12, 2020, complaints of sexual harassment in employment must be filed within three years after the alleged unlawful discriminatory practice.

Read NY A.B. 8421

New York Law Update: Discrimination Against Religious Attire

On August 9, 2019, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed legislation (A.B. 4204) prohibiting employers from discriminating against any person based on their attire, clothing, or facial hair that is worn in accordance with their religion’s requirements.

The law is effective October 8, 2019.

Read NY A.B. 4204

New York Law Alert: Discrimination Penalties

On July 29, 2019, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed legislation (S.B. 5791) amending N.Y. Lab. Law § 215 (penalties and civil action; prohibited retaliation) to add discrimination or retaliation against immigrant employees within the penalty provisions. Specifically, the law adds that to threaten, penalize, or in any other manner discriminate or retaliate against any employee includes both:

Threatening to contact (or contacting) U.S. immigration authorities; and
Otherwise reporting (or threatening to report) an employee’s suspected citizenship, immigration status, or that of an employee’s family or household member to a federal, state, or local agency.

The law is effective October 27, 2019.

Read NY S.B. 5791

If you have questions about this newest law alert or other HR issues, our advisors can help your company navigate every new change, requirement, legislation, law and regulation. Give us a call to see how we can help streamline HR for professionals and office managers alike.

New York Law Alerts: July 2019

Posted on July 23, 2019September 12, 2019 by try HRIS

New York was subject to three law changes in July 2019. Two changes regarding wages further defined NY Law mandates. The third was instated by a Federal Court ruling regarding mandatory arbitration. If your business currently has signed Arbitration Agreements, pay particularly close attention to the third NY Law Alert.

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Compliance can be simplified and we’ll prove it. Contact us to learn more & schedule a complimentary consultation with our HR Advisors.

NY Law Alert 1: Pay Equity

On July 10, 2019, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed legislation amending the state’s labor law to prohibit wage differentials. (S.B. 5248-B)

No employee who falls within one or more protected class may be paid a lesser wage than another, on the basis of the employee’s protected status, in the same establishment for:

Equal work on a job with equal skill, effort, and responsibility, and which is performed under similar working conditions; or
Substantially similar work, when viewed as a composite of skill, effort, and responsibility, and performed under similar working conditions, except where payment is made pursuant to:
- A seniority system;
- A merit system;
- A system that measures earnings by quantity or quality of production; or
- A bona fide factor other than status within one or more protected class or classes, such as education, training, or experience. A bona fide factor must be job-related and consistent with business necessity.

The bona fide factor exception does not apply when the employee demonstrates:

That an employer uses a particular employment practice that causes a disparate impact on the basis of status within one or more protected class or classes;
That an alternative employment practice exists that would serve the same business purpose and not produce such differential; and
That the employer has refused to adopt such alternative practice.

Under the law, protected class includes age, race, creed, color, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, military status, sex, disability, predisposing genetic characteristics, familial status, marital status, or domestic violence victim status, and any employee protected from discrimination pursuant N.Y. Exec. Law § 296(a), (b), and (c) (unlawful discriminatory practices) and any intern protected from discrimination pursuant to section N.Y. Exec. Law § 296c (unlawful discriminatory practices related to interns).

The law is effective October 8, 2019.

Read NY S.B. 5248-B

NY Law Alert 2: Salary History Ban

On July 10, 2019, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed legislation prohibiting private and public employers from seeking salary history from applicants. (5308B/6594)

Under the new law employers may not:

Rely on an applicant’s wage or salary history to determine whether to extend a job offer or the amount of wages or salary.
Verbally or in writing seek, request, or require an applicant’s or current employee’s wage or salary history as a condition to:
- Be interviewed;
- Continue to be considered for a job offer; or
- Employment or promotion.
Verbally or in writing seek, request, or require the wage or salary history of an applicant or current employee from a current or former employer, current or former employee, or agent of either.
Refuse to interview, hire, promote, otherwise employ, or otherwise retaliate against an applicant or current employee:
- Based upon prior wage or salary history;
- Because the individual did not provide wage or salary history; or
- Because the individual filed a complaint with the New York State Department of Labor.

Applicants or current employees may voluntarily, and without prompting, disclose or verify their wage or salary history to negotiate their wage, salary, etc.

Wage Confirmation

An employer may only confirm wage or salary history if:

Compensation is included when the job offer is extended; and
The applicant or current employee responds to the offer by providing prior wage or salary information to support a wage or salary higher than offered by the employer.

The law is effective January 6, 2020.

NY Law Alert 3: NY Arbitration Agreements May Now Prove Unenforceable.

Federal Court ruled on June 26, 2019 in Latif v. Morgan Stanley & Co LLC that the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) Pre-Empts NY Civil Practice Law, possibly effecting Arbitration Agreements.

NY Civil Practice Law, which prohibits “any clause or provision in any contract which requires as a condition of the enforcement of the contract (or obtaining remedies under the contract) that the parties submit to mandatory arbitration to resolve any allegation or claim of an unlawful discriminatory practice of sexual harassment.”

In Latif, the employer’s offer letter included an arbitration agreement, which the employee and employee voluntarily entered. In summary, the plaintiff-employee alleged that he was a victim of sexual harassment and that his sexual harassment claims could not be subject to the defendant-employer’s arbitration agreement.

In Latif, the only dispute between the parties was whether the plaintiff-employee’s sexual harassment claims were subject to the terms of the mutually entered arbitration agreement in light of § 7515. Subsequently, the defendant-employer’s motion to compel arbitration was granted.

The decision also mentioned in a footnote that, “on June 19, 2019, the New York legislature passed SB6577/AB8421, which would amend § 7515 to change the definition of ‘prohibited clause’ and ‘mandatory arbitration clause’ to encompass mandatory arbitration of claims of discrimination generally, rather than specifically of sexual harassment. For the same reasons described above, § 7515 as so amended would not provide a defense to the enforcement of the arbitration agreement” and may prove to be unenforceable.

The decision took effect on June 26, 2019, but may be subject to appeal.

Read Latif v. Morgan Stanley

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If these law alerts have you a bit overwhelmed and you find you have more questions than answers, our advisors can help your company navigate every new change, requirement, legislation, law and regulation. Give us a call to see how we can help streamline HR for professionals or office managers.

Tag: New York Employment Law