Relates to requiring employers to provide employees notice of their sexual harassment prevention policy and sexual harassment prevention training program in writing in English and in employees' primary languages; requires the commissioner of labor to create dual-language templates of model sexual harassment prevention policies and training programs.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
3343--A
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
February 5, 2019
___________
Introduced by Sen. RAMOS -- 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 requiring employers to
provide employees notice of their sexual harassment prevention policy
and sexual harassment prevention training program in writing in
English and in employees' primary languages
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Paragraph b of subdivision 1 of section 201-g of the labor
2 law, as added by section 1 of subpart E of part KK of chapter 57 of the
3 laws of 2018, is amended and a new subdivision 2-a is added to read as
4 follows:
5 b. Every employer shall adopt the model sexual harassment prevention
6 policy promulgated pursuant to this subdivision or establish a sexual
7 harassment prevention policy to prevent sexual harassment that equals or
8 exceeds the minimum standards provided by such model sexual harassment
9 prevention policy. Such sexual harassment prevention policy shall be
10 provided to all employees in writing as required by subdivision two-a of
11 this section. Such model sexual harassment prevention policy shall be
12 publicly available and posted on the websites of both the department and
13 the division of human rights.
14 2-a. a. Every employer shall provide his or her employees, in writing
15 in English and in the language identified by each employee as the prima-
16 ry language of such employee, at the time of hiring and at every annual
17 sexual harassment prevention training provided pursuant to subdivision
18 two of this section, a notice containing such employer's sexual harass-
19 ment prevention policy and the information presented at such employer's
20 sexual harassment prevention training program.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01373-03-9
S. 3343--A 2
1 b. The commissioner shall prepare templates of the model sexual
2 harassment prevention policy created and published pursuant to subdivi-
3 sion one of this section and the model sexual harassment prevention
4 training program produced pursuant to subdivision two of this section.
5 Each such template shall be dual-language, including English and one
6 additional language. The commissioner shall determine, in his or her
7 discretion, which languages to provide in addition to English, based on
8 the size of the New York state population that speaks each language and
9 any other factor that the commissioner shall deem relevant. All such
10 templates shall be made available to employers in such manner as deter-
11 mined by the commissioner.
12 c. When an employee identifies as his or her primary language a
13 language for which a template is not available from the commissioner,
14 the employer shall comply with this subdivision by providing that
15 employee an English-language notice.
16 d. An employer shall not be penalized for errors or omissions in the
17 non-English portions of any notice provided by the commissioner.
18 § 2. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
19 have become a law. Effective immediately the addition, amendment and/or
20 repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of
21 this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and completed
22 on or before such effective date.
