Enacts the "standing is tiring (sit) act"; requires employers to provide suitable seats to all employees where the nature of such employees' work reasonably permits seated work; prohibits employers from artificially designing a work space to require standing; requires the department of labor to determine whether the nature of work reasonably permits seated work; creates a private right of action for employees whose employer does not provide seats.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A5642A
SPONSOR: Reyes TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the labor law, in relation to enacting the "standing is
tiring (sit) act"
PURPOSE:
To enhance workplace safety and performance by allowing employees who
are reasonably able to sit during their jobs the option to do so.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1: Sets name for this act as the Standing Is Tiring (SIT) Act.
Section 2: Amends the labor law to require employers to provide seats to
all employees where the job reasonably allows seated work, to prohibit
employers from designing workplaces to require standing where not neces-
sary, to require the Department of Labor to promulgate standards for
whether the nature of an employee's work reasonably permits sitting, to
require the Department to establish an online form on its website for
employees to file complaints, and to establish a right of action again
employers who fail to meet these requirements.
Section 3: Sets the effective date.
**The amendments to this version of the bill to add definitions for what
employees, employers, and covered industries are covered by this bill,
adds requirements for anti-fatigue mats in situations where work is not
able to be done sitting down, and directs the department to establish an
online form and complaint process for employees.
JUSTIFICATION:
Employees in many settings, especially retail and food service, are
required to stand for their entire shift. Employers often assert that
this is necessary for reasons associated with professionalism, efficien-
cy, and business needs. It is often necessary to stand while performing
work, but it also true that prolonged standing with minimal or no breaks
is not a necessity in many workplaces. According to a review by the
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, prolonged stand-
ing at work can even lead to numerous negative health outcomes. They
cite studies showing that prolonged standing lower back pain, fatigue,
muscle pain, tiredness, and body soreness, and can even pose risks of
cardiovascular problems and other serious issues. There are many changes
that employers can make to allow employees more options besides simply
standing for hours on end during their shifts. The simplest of these is
to simply provide employees who are reasonably able to perform their
work sitting the option to do so. This legislation presents a reasonable
step in this direction: requiring employers to provide employees who can
sit with the ability to do so and preventing employers from constructing
workplaces to force prolonged standing unnecessarily. This simple
change to New York's labor laws will provide relief for many of our
hardest working neighbors.
FISCAL IMPACT:
To be determined.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New legislation.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
One year after becoming law.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
5642--A
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
March 20, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. REYES -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Labor -- recommitted to the Committee on Labor in accordance with
Assembly Rule 3, sec. 2 -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered
reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the labor law, in relation to enacting the "standing is
tiring (sit) act"
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "standing
2 is tiring (sit) act".
3 § 2. The labor law is amended by adding a new section 203-g to read as
4 follows:
5 § 203-g. Employee right to sit. 1. For the purposes of this section,
6 the following terms shall have the following meanings:
7 (a) "Employee" means any person within a covered industry providing
8 labor or services for remuneration for a public or private entity or
9 business within the state, without regard to an individual's immigration
10 status, and shall include, but not be limited to, part-time workers,
11 independent contractors, day laborers, farmworkers and other temporary
12 and seasonal workers. The term "employee" shall also include individuals
13 working for staffing agencies, contractors, or subcontractors on behalf
14 of the employer at any individual worksite.
15 (b) "Employer" means any individual, partnership, association, corpo-
16 ration, limited liability company, business trust, legal representative,
17 public entity, or any organized group acting as employer within a
18 covered industry.
19 (c) "Covered industry" means any of the following businesses, indus-
20 tries, or types of employment, including but not limited to, in private,
21 university, or nonprofit settings: retail, restaurant, grocery, cler-
22 ical, carwash, maintenance or janitorial, and healthcare.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00513-07-4
A. 5642--A 2
1 2. An employer shall be required to provide suitable seats to all
2 employees where the nature of such employees' work reasonably permits
3 seated work.
4 3. An employer shall be prohibited from designing a work space to
5 require standing where such work space could reasonably be designed to
6 permit seated work.
7 4. Where the nature of an employee's work does not reasonably permit
8 seated work, the employer shall provide anti-fatigue mats or other ergo-
9 nomics controls that are conducive to the particular work environment.
10 5. The department shall promulgate rules and/or regulations for deter-
11 mining whether the nature of an employee's work reasonably permits seat-
12 ed work under subdivisions two and four of this section, based on the
13 totality of the circumstances for each employee, including, but not
14 limited to, whether:
15 (a) an employee's tasks can be performed from a chair;
16 (b) seating an employee would interfere with job performance; and
17 (c) the physical layout of a work space is conducive to seating.
18 6. The department shall create signage and educational materials for
19 the purpose of informing employees of their rights under this section.
20 Such signage and educational materials shall be made available on the
21 department's website, and upon request by an employer or employee, in
22 the twelve most common languages spoken in the state, as determined by
23 the department. The department shall require employers to post such
24 signage conspicuously, and shall require employers to provide such
25 educational materials to employees upon hiring of such employees.
26 7. (a) The department shall establish an online form on its website
27 with which an employee subject to this section shall have the ability to
28 file a complaint with the department regarding a violation of this
29 section by an employer. Any such complaints shall be investigated by the
30 department, and if a violation of this section is found, the department
31 shall issue a notice of such violation to the employer within forty-five
32 days of receipt of the original complaint by the department.
33 (b) If an employer fails to comply with a notice of a violation issued
34 by the department pursuant to paragraph (a) of this subdivision within
35 forty-five days of receipt of such notice, the department shall impose
36 against such employer a fine of not less than one hundred dollars for
37 each day until such violation is cured. All funds collected by the
38 department from fines imposed under this paragraph shall be used for
39 enforcement of this section, and any remaining funds shall be directed
40 to the New York state occupational safety and health hazard abatement
41 board established pursuant to section twenty-seven-a of this chapter for
42 use by such board.
43 8. In addition to the provisions of subdivision seven of this section,
44 an employee shall have a private right of action for damages against any
45 employer who fails to provide suitable seating to such employee in
46 violation of subdivision two of this section.
47 9. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if
48 an employer in any manner discriminates, retaliates, or takes any
49 adverse action against an employee within ninety days of such employee
50 initiating a complaint pursuant to this section.
51 § 3. This act shall take effect one year after it shall have become a
52 law.
