Bill Text: NY S08397 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Amended

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Bill Title: Prohibits health care employers from penalizing employees because of complaints of employer violations.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 11-0)

Status: (Passed) 2020-06-17 - SIGNED CHAP.117 [S08397 Detail]

Download: New_York-2019-S08397-Amended.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                         8397--A

                    IN SENATE

                                      May 21, 2020
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  Sen.  SAVINO -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
          printed to be  committed  to  the  Committee  on  Labor  --  committee
          discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
          to said committee

        AN  ACT  to  amend the labor law, in relation to prohibiting health care
          employers from penalizing employees because of complaints of  employer
          violations

          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. Subdivisions 1, 2 and 3 of section 741 of the labor law, as
     2  added by chapter 24 of the laws of 2002, paragraph (b) of subdivision  1
     3  as  amended  by  chapter 505 of the laws of 2003, are amended to read as
     4  follows:
     5    1. Definitions. As used in this section,  the  following  terms  shall
     6  have the following meanings:
     7    (a)  "Employee" means any person who performs health care services for
     8  and under the control and direction of any public  or  private  employer
     9  which provides health care services for wages or other remuneration.
    10    (b)  "Employer"  means  any partnership, association, corporation, the
    11  state, or any political subdivision of the  state  which:  (i)  provides
    12  health  care services in a facility licensed pursuant to article twenty-
    13  eight or thirty-six of the public health law; (ii) provides health  care
    14  services  within  a  primary  or  secondary  public or private school or
    15  public or private university setting; (iii) operates and provides health
    16  care services under the mental hygiene law or  the  correction  law;  or
    17  (iv)  is registered with the department of education pursuant to section
    18  sixty-eight hundred eight of the education law.
    19    (c) "Agent" means any  individual,  partnership,  association,  corpo-
    20  ration, or group of persons acting on behalf of an employer.
    21    (d)  "Improper quality of patient care" means, with respect to patient
    22  care, any practice, procedure, action or failure to act of  an  employer
    23  which  violates  any law, rule, regulation or declaratory ruling adopted
    24  pursuant to law, where such violation relates to matters which may pres-
    25  ent a substantial and specific danger to public health or  safety  or  a
    26  significant threat to the health of a specific patient.
    27    (e)  "Improper  quality  of  workplace  safety" means, with respect to
    28  employees, any practice, procedure, action  or  failure  to  act  of  an

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD16155-02-0
        S. 8397--A                          2

     1  employer which violates any law, rule, regulation, or declaratory ruling
     2  adopted  pursuant  to  law where such violation relates to matters which
     3  may present an unsafe workplace environment or risk of  employee  safety
     4  or a significant threat to the health of a specific employee.
     5    (f) "Public body" means:
     6    (1)  the United States Congress, any state legislature, or any elected
     7  local governmental body, or any member or employee thereof;
     8    (2) any federal, state or local court, or any member or employee ther-
     9  eof, any grand or petit jury;
    10    (3) any federal, state or local regulatory, administrative  or  public
    11  agency or authority, or instrumentality thereof;
    12    (4)  any federal, state or local law enforcement agency, prosecutorial
    13  office, or police or peace officer;
    14    (5) any federal, state or local department of an executive  branch  of
    15  government; or
    16    (6)  any  division,  board, bureau, office, committee or commission of
    17  any of the public bodies described in subparagraph one, two, three, four
    18  or five of this paragraph.
    19    [(f)]  (g)  "Retaliatory  action"  means  the  discharge,  suspension,
    20  demotion,  penalization  or discrimination against an employee, or other
    21  adverse employment action taken against an employee  in  the  terms  and
    22  conditions of employment.
    23    [(g)] (h) "Supervisor" means any person within an employer's organiza-
    24  tion who has the authority to direct and control the work performance of
    25  an  employee, or who has the authority to take corrective action regard-
    26  ing the violation of a law, rule or  regulation  to  which  an  employee
    27  submits a complaint.
    28    2.  Retaliatory action prohibited. Notwithstanding any other provision
    29  of law, no employer shall take retaliatory action against  any  employee
    30  because the employee does any of the following:
    31    (a)  discloses  or  threatens  to  disclose to a supervisor, [or] to a
    32  public body, to a news media outlet, or to a social media  forum  avail-
    33  able  to  the  public  at  large, an activity, policy or practice of the
    34  employer or agent that the employee, in good faith, reasonably  believes
    35  constitutes  improper  quality  of  patient  care or improper quality of
    36  workplace safety; or
    37    (b) objects to, or refuses to participate in any activity,  policy  or
    38  practice  of  the  employer  or  agent that the employee, in good faith,
    39  reasonably believes constitutes improper  quality  of  patient  care  or
    40  improper quality of workplace safety.
    41    3.  Application.  The  protection against retaliatory personnel action
    42  provided by subdivision two of this section shall not apply  unless  the
    43  employee  has  brought  the improper quality of patient care or improper
    44  quality of workplace safety to the attention of  a  supervisor  and  has
    45  afforded the employer a reasonable opportunity to correct such activity,
    46  policy  or  practice.  This  subdivision shall not apply to an action or
    47  failure to act described in paragraph (a) of  subdivision  two  of  this
    48  section  where  the improper quality of patient care or improper quality
    49  of workplace safety described therein presents  an  imminent  threat  to
    50  public  health  or  safety  or  to  the  health of a specific patient or
    51  specific health care employee and the employee  reasonably  believes  in
    52  good faith that reporting to a supervisor would not result in corrective
    53  action.
    54    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.