Bill > A07083

This bill proposes several key changes to New York's anti-discrimination laws: 1. It expands the definition of "employer" to include all employers in the state, including the state and its political subdivisions, for claims of sexual harassment. It also adds a new definition of "because of" in disparate treatment cases, clarifying that the unlawful motive must be a motivating factor. 2. It creates a new category of unlawful discriminatory practice, prohibiting employers, licensing agencies, employment agencies, and labor organizations from subjecting individuals to discriminatory harassment based on protected characteristics, regardless of whether the harassment is severe or pervasive. It also states that an employee's failure to use a complaint procedure is not a defense to liability. 3. It establishes new standards for employer liability, including holding employers liable for discriminatory conduct by employees, agents, and independent contractors in certain circumstances. It also allows employers to assert an affirmative defense by demonstrating they had policies and procedures in place to prevent and detect unlawful discrimination. 4. It expands protections against harassment for domestic workers, adding additional protected characteristics. 5. It broadens the scope of unlawful discriminatory practices to cover discrimination against non-employees in the workplace. 6. It allows for the recovery of punitive damages in employment discrimination cases and requires the court to award attorney's fees to prevailing parties in employment discrimination and credit discrimination cases. 7. It directs that the anti-discrimination law provisions be construed liberally and exceptions narrowly to maximize deterrence of discriminatory conduct.

Government Affairs

https://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?default_fld=&bn=A07083&term=2019&Summary=Y&Actions=Y&Text=Y&Committee%26nbspVotes=Y&Floor%26nbspVotes=Y