Requires employers to submit an affirmative acknowledgement of implementing a sexual harassment prevention policy which meets or exceeds the minimum standards upon the completion of the employer's annual training or the training of a newly hired employee.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
 
BILL NUMBER: A7864
SPONSOR: Simon
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the labor law, in relation to requiring employers to
submit an affirmative acknowledgement of implementing a sexual harass-
ment prevention policy which meets or exceeds the minimum standards
 
PURPOSE:
To mandate that the Department of Labor develop policies that require
employers to affirmatively acknowledge to the Department of Labor that
they have met or exceeded the sexual harassment prevention policy mini-
mum standards established in 2018.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1: Amends's subdivision 3 of section 201-g of the Labor Law to
require the Department of Labor, in consultation with the division of
human rights, to create and implement a system for every employer to
affirmatively acknowledge that the employer has met or exceeded the
sexual harassment prevention policy minimum standards required by this
section, as revised in 2018.
Section 2: Effective date.
 
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ORIGINAL AND AMENDED VERSION:
 
JUSTIFICATION:
Section 201-9 of the Labor Law requires that every employer utilize the
model sexual harassment prevention program created by the Department of
Labor (or establish a training program for employees to prevent sexual
harassment that equals or exceeds the minimum standards provided by the
model program standards). Employers are responsible for delivering this
sexual harassment prevention training to all their employees on an annu-
al basis.
Despite this requirement, however, a joint Senate-Assembly hearing on
sexual harassment in the workplace held in February 2019, revealed that
the DOI, has not taken steps to ensure that employers are actually
complying with this requirement. As such, mandating that the DOL require
employers to certify that they are implementing an anti-sexual harass-
ment program that meets DOL standards is an important next step to
finally cracking down on the scourge of workplace sexual harassment in
New York.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2021-2022: A2423 (Niou)S1841 (Skoufis) -referred to labor
2019-2020: A8075(Niou)/S4845(Skoufis) - referred to labor / referred to
labor
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
minimal
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall have
become a law
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
7864
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
July 7, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. SIMON -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Labor
AN ACT to amend the labor law, in relation to requiring employers to
submit an affirmative acknowledgement of implementing a sexual harass-
ment prevention policy which meets or exceeds the minimum standards
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 3 of section 201-g of the labor law, as added
2 by section 1 of subpart E of part KK of chapter 57 of the laws of 2018,
3 is amended to read as follows:
4 3. a. The department shall consult with the division of human rights
5 to create a system for every employer to affirmatively acknowledge that
6 the employer has met or exceeded the sexual harassment prevention policy
7 minimum standards required by this section and the regulations promul-
8 gated by the commissioner in accordance with this section.
9 b. Each employer shall submit to the department an affirmative
10 acknowledgement that the employer has met or exceeded the sexual harass-
11 ment prevention policy minimum standards required by this section and
12 the regulations promulgated by the commissioner in accordance with this
13 section upon the completion of the employer's annual sexual harassment
14 prevention training and upon the completion of the sexual harassment
15 prevention training if any person newly hired by the employer. The
16 employer shall use the system created by the department under paragraph
17 a of this subdivision to submit the affirmative acknowledgements
18 required by this paragraph.
19 4. The commissioner [may] shall promulgate regulations [as he or she
20 deems necessary] for the purposes of carrying out the provisions of this
21 section.
22 § 2. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall
23 have become a law.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD05827-01-3