Bill Text: NY S01051 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relates to defining retaliatory acts in the workplace and establishing an affirmative defense; provides that an act shall be deemed retaliatory in the workplace if an aggrieved employee is treated less favorably than any other employee; provides an affirmative defense for employers.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-01-08 - REFERRED TO INVESTIGATIONS AND GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS [S01051 Detail]

Download: New_York-2019-S01051-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                          1051
                               2019-2020 Regular Sessions
                    IN SENATE
                                    January 10, 2019
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by  Sen. PERSAUD -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
          printed to be committed to the Committee on Investigations and Govern-
          ment Operations
        AN ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to  defining  retaliatory
          acts in the workplace and establishing an affirmative defense
          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section 1. Subdivision 7 of section  296  of  the  executive  law,  as
     2  amended  by  chapter  166  of  the  laws  of 2000, is amended to read as
     3  follows:
     4    7. It shall be an unlawful  discriminatory  practice  for  any  person
     5  engaged  in  any  activity to which this section applies to retaliate or
     6  discriminate against any person because he or she has opposed any  prac-
     7  tices  forbidden  under  this  article  or because he or she has filed a
     8  complaint, testified or assisted in any proceeding under  this  article.
     9  For  purposes of this subdivision, an act shall be deemed retaliatory in
    10  the workplace if an aggrieved employee is treated  less  favorably  than
    11  any  other  employee, provided that an employer may raise an affirmative
    12  defense that: (a) the employer planned to demote, discharge, or penalize
    13  the employee prior to learning that the employee had opposed a  practice
    14  forbidden  under  this  article  or  the employee had filed a complaint,
    15  testified or assisted in a proceeding under this  article,  or  (b)  the
    16  employer  proves  that  its treatment of the aggrieved employee occurred
    17  without any consideration to the employee's  opposition  to  a  practice
    18  forbidden  under  this  article or the employee's filing of a complaint,
    19  testifying or assisting in a proceeding under this article.
    20    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD00841-01-9