NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A9009
SPONSOR: Vanel TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the workers' compensation law, in relation to penalties
for discrimination against employees
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
Relates to penalties for discrimination against employees.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 increases the total penalty for discrimination from $500 to 3x
the employee's total compensation, with half going to the employee and
half going to the state treasury.
Section 2 provides the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
When the legislature enacted Section 220 of the workers' compensation
law, it recognized that families facing serious health battles needed
both job protection and financial security. Accordingly, this section
imposes an extreme (and justifiable) penalty of 0.5% of their weekly
payroll, misdemeanor charges, and even jail time for those who fail to
implement a paid family leave system. Additionally, such employers are
barred from receiving government contracts and permits.
Yet, once coverage is in place, the law loses all its teeth. What
happens when an employer does implement the program, but then begins
discriminating against employees? They get a measly $500 fine and a
requirement to reinstate the employee (who might not even want to work
for the employer anyway).
In other words, the two provisions of law simply don't add up.
This bill simply recognizes the severity of retaliating against an
employee for using their statutory right to paid family leave and other
similar benefits by increasing the penalty to a level that is commensu-
rate to the penalty for failing to implement the program in the first
place.
When an employee is discriminated against - for example fired - for
taking care of themselves or a family member during a severe illness,
they will not only have to go through an arduous and uncertain process
to get justice and reclaim their job, but also go potentially months
without their employer-provided healthcare which they relied on.
Further, they will have to pay an attorney to assist them with their
claim, particularly if they go up against a large institution with a
legal department that is dedicated to fighting these claims. Not only
that, if the employee claims unemployment benefits, the employer can
further force a hearing contesting their eligibility, which, again, is
uncertain and forces the employee to hire an attorney. If the employee
loses that case, they would be unable to collect unemployment going
forward.
By aligning the severity of the penalty, New York would send a clear,
uncompromising message: punishing families for caring for loved ones is
unacceptable.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
None
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
N/A
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have
become law.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
9009
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
August 13, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. VANEL -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Labor
AN ACT to amend the workers' compensation law, in relation to penalties
for discrimination against employees
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The second undesignated paragraph of section 120 of the
2 workers' compensation law, as amended by chapter 61 of the laws of 1989,
3 is amended to read as follows:
4 Any complaint alleging such an unlawful discriminatory practice must
5 be filed within two years of the commission of such practice. Upon find-
6 ing that an employer has violated this section, the board shall make an
7 order that any employee so discriminated against shall be restored to
8 employment or otherwise restored to the position or privileges [he or
9 she] such employee would have had but for the discrimination and shall
10 be compensated by [his or her] their employer for any loss of compen-
11 sation arising out of such discrimination together with such fees or
12 allowances for services rendered by an attorney or licensed represen-
13 tative as fixed by the board. Any employer who violates this section
14 shall be liable to a penalty of [not less than one hundred dollars or
15 more than five hundred dollars, as may be determined by the board] three
16 times the total compensation of the employee subjected to the violation.
17 [All] As used in this paragraph, the term "total compensation" shall
18 mean the value of all wages and benefits that the employee earned during
19 the previous year. Half of such penalties shall be paid into the state
20 treasury and half shall be paid to the employee. All penalties, compen-
21 sation and fees or allowances shall be paid solely by the employer. The
22 employer alone and not [his or her] their carrier shall be liable for
23 such penalties and payments. Any provision in an insurance policy under-
24 taking to relieve the employer from liability for such penalties and
25 payments shall be void.
26 § 2. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
27 have become a law.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13587-01-5
