Bill Text: NY S01997 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Amended
Bill Title: Enacts the "standing is tiring (sit) act"; requires employers to provide suitable seats to all employees where the nature of such employees' work reasonably permits seated work; prohibits employers from artificially designing a work space to require standing; requires the department of labor to determine whether the nature of work reasonably permits seated work; creates a private right of action for employees whose employer does not provide seats.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-04-18 - PRINT NUMBER 1997A [S01997 Detail]
Download: New_York-2023-S01997-Amended.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 1997--A 2023-2024 Regular Sessions IN SENATE January 18, 2023 ___________ Introduced by Sens. MAY, GONZALEZ, JACKSON, RAMOS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Labor -- recommitted to the Committee on Labor in accordance with Senate Rule 6, sec. 8 -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee AN ACT to amend the labor law, in relation to enacting the "standing is tiring (sit) act" The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "standing 2 is tiring (sit) act". 3 § 2. The labor law is amended by adding a new section 203-g to read as 4 follows: 5 § 203-g. Employee right to sit. 1. For the purposes of this section, 6 the following terms shall have the following meanings: 7 (a) "Employee" means any person within a covered industry providing 8 labor or services for remuneration for a public or private entity or 9 business within the state, without regard to an individual's immigration 10 status, and shall include, but not be limited to, part-time workers, 11 independent contractors, day laborers, farmworkers and other temporary 12 and seasonal workers. The term "employee" shall also include individuals 13 working for staffing agencies, contractors, or subcontractors on behalf 14 of the employer at any individual worksite. 15 (b) "Employer" means any individual, partnership, association, corpo- 16 ration, limited liability company, business trust, legal representative, 17 public entity, or any organized group acting as employer within a 18 covered industry. 19 (c) "Covered industry" means any of the following businesses, indus- 20 tries, or types of employment, including but not limited to, in private, 21 university, or nonprofit settings: retail, restaurant, grocery, cler- 22 ical, carwash, maintenance or janitorial, and healthcare. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD00513-06-4S. 1997--A 2 1 2. An employer shall be required to provide suitable seats to all 2 employees where the nature of such employees' work reasonably permits 3 seated work. 4 3. An employer shall be prohibited from designing a work space to 5 require standing where such work space could reasonably be designed to 6 permit seated work. 7 4. Where the nature of an employee's work does not reasonably permit 8 seated work, the employer shall provide anti-fatigue mats or other ergo- 9 nomics controls that are conducive to the particular work environment. 10 5. The department shall promulgate rules and/or regulations for deter- 11 mining whether the nature of an employee's work reasonably permits seat- 12 ed work under subdivisions two and four of this section, based on the 13 totality of the circumstances for each employee, including, but not 14 limited to, whether: 15 (a) an employee's tasks can be performed from a chair; 16 (b) seating an employee would interfere with job performance; and 17 (c) the physical layout of a work space is conducive to seating. 18 6. The department shall create signage and educational materials for 19 the purpose of informing employees of their rights under this section. 20 Such signage and educational materials shall be made available on the 21 department's website, and upon request by an employer or employee, in 22 the twelve most common languages spoken in the state, as determined by 23 the department. The department shall require employers to post such 24 signage conspicuously, and shall require employers to provide such 25 educational materials to employees upon hiring of such employees. 26 7. (a) The department shall establish an online form on its website 27 with which an employee subject to this section shall have the ability to 28 file a complaint with the department regarding a violation of this 29 section by an employer. Any such complaints shall be investigated by the 30 department, and if a violation of this section is found, the department 31 shall issue a notice of such violation to the employer within forty-five 32 days of receipt of the original complaint by the department. 33 (b) If an employer fails to comply with a notice of a violation issued 34 by the department pursuant to paragraph (a) of this subdivision within 35 forty-five days of receipt of such notice, the department shall impose 36 against such employer a fine of not less than one hundred dollars for 37 each day until such violation is cured. All funds collected by the 38 department from fines imposed under this paragraph shall be used for 39 enforcement of this section, and any remaining funds shall be directed 40 to the New York state occupational safety and health hazard abatement 41 board established pursuant to section twenty-seven-a of this chapter for 42 use by such board. 43 8. In addition to the provisions of subdivision seven of this section, 44 an employee shall have a private right of action for damages against any 45 employer who fails to provide suitable seating to such employee in 46 violation of subdivision two of this section. 47 9. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if 48 an employer in any manner discriminates, retaliates, or takes any 49 adverse action against an employee within ninety days of such employee 50 initiating a complaint pursuant to this section. 51 § 3. This act shall take effect one year after it shall have become a 52 law.
