Relates to defining retaliatory acts in the workplace and establishing an affirmative defense; provides that an act shall be deemed retaliatory in the workplace if an aggrieved employee is treated less favorably than any other employee; provides an affirmative defense for employers.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
1051
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 10, 2019
___________
Introduced by Sen. PERSAUD -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Investigations and Govern-
ment Operations
AN ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to defining retaliatory
acts in the workplace and establishing an affirmative defense
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 7 of section 296 of the executive law, as
2 amended by chapter 166 of the laws of 2000, is amended to read as
3 follows:
4 7. It shall be an unlawful discriminatory practice for any person
5 engaged in any activity to which this section applies to retaliate or
6 discriminate against any person because he or she has opposed any prac-
7 tices forbidden under this article or because he or she has filed a
8 complaint, testified or assisted in any proceeding under this article.
9 For purposes of this subdivision, an act shall be deemed retaliatory in
10 the workplace if an aggrieved employee is treated less favorably than
11 any other employee, provided that an employer may raise an affirmative
12 defense that: (a) the employer planned to demote, discharge, or penalize
13 the employee prior to learning that the employee had opposed a practice
14 forbidden under this article or the employee had filed a complaint,
15 testified or assisted in a proceeding under this article, or (b) the
16 employer proves that its treatment of the aggrieved employee occurred
17 without any consideration to the employee's opposition to a practice
18 forbidden under this article or the employee's filing of a complaint,
19 testifying or assisting in a proceeding under this article.
20 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00841-01-9
