NELA/NY'S LEGISLATIVE AGENDA

NELA/NY’s 2024 Legislative Agenda is robust and ambitious, including both NYS and NYC proposed legislation.  We work with like-minded organizations to advance protections for New York workers.
 
NELA /NY Legislative Agenda 2024:
 
  1. Wage Payment Integrity Act -- S4973/A5348 (Gounardes/Simon):
 
  1. Banning Do Not Darken My Door Clauses in Employment Discrimination Settlement Agreements -- S14/A306 (Gounardes/Cruz).
    • Summary: Makes the release of any claim by an employee, or independent contractor who is a natural person, against an employer, unenforceable if, as a condition of such resolution, the employee or independent contractor is prohibited from applying for, accepting, or engaging in future employment with such employer, or any entity or entities related to such employer.
    • Text of bill and legislative status.
    • NELA NY’s Memorandum of Support (MOS)
 
  1. Banning Retaliatory Defamation Suits against Employment Discrimination Survivors -- S4549/A1676 (Gounardes/Simon)
    • Summary: Prohibits a cause of action for defamation where the subject of such action includes an allegation made to an employer regarding an unlawful discriminatory practice or act of retaliation.
    • Text of bill and legislative status
 
  1. Protecting Employment Discrimination Jury Verdicts -- S17/A2865 (Gounardes/Seawright)
 
  1. Clarifying Standard for Proving Employment Discrimination -- S4467A/A1396 (Mayer/Bichotte-Hermalyn)
    • Summary: Clarifies the standard for disparate treatment claims by defining the terms "because of", "because", "by reason of", and "motivating factor" for the purposes of disparate treatment cases.
    • Text of bill and legislative status
 
  1. Clarifying 21 Day Review Period for Employment Discrimination Settlements S8802 (Fernandez)
 
  1. Labor Law Enforcement Parity Act - S8852/A9800 (Ramos/Bronson)
    • Summary: Clarifies that the liquidated and statutory damages available for certain wage violations are not punitive in nature and are designed to compensate workers
    • Text of bills and legislative status: S8852, A9800
    • NELA-NY Memorandum in Support (MOS)
 
  1. Protecting Statutes of Limitations under NYC HRL -- Int. 0069 (Restler)

COALITION BILLS:
 
NELA/NY is proud to actively participate in coalitions in support of the following bills.
 
  1. Wage Theft Attachment Act -- S7539/A7752 (Ramos/Rosenthal)
    • Summary: Provides grounds for attachment; relates to procedures where employees may hold shareholders of non-publicly traded corporations personally liable for wage theft; relates to rights for victims of wage theft to hold the ten members with the largest ownership interests in a company personally liable for wage theft; relates to penalties for certain wage violations.
    • Text of bill and legislative status
 
  1. SWEAT -- S1977A/A46A (Ramos/Rosenthal)
    • Summary: Relates to securing payment of wages for work already performed; creates a lien remedy for all employees; provides grounds for attachment; relates to procedures where employees may hold shareholders of non-publicly traded corporations personally liable for wage theft.
    • Text of bill and legislative status
    • Video summary
 
  1. Personnel File Disclosure -- S99/A1959 (Gounardes/Gonzalez-Rojas)
    • Summary: Grants employees access to personnel records; requires notice of negative information in such records and an opportunity for a review; permits employee to include certain information in personnel records
    • Text of bill and legislative status
 
  1. Empowering People in Rights Enforcement (EmPIRE) Worker Protection Act -- S541B/A9012 (Hoylman-Sigal/Simon)
    • Summary: Expands the public enforcement capacity of the state in order to remedy wage theft and other violations of the New York Labor Law by authorizing an affected employee, whistleblower, representative organization or an organizational deputy to initiate a public enforcement action on behalf of the state for violations of the Labor Law’s wage theft, health & safety, and anti-retaliation protections
    • Text of bill and legislative status: S541B, A9012
    • NELA-NY Memorandum in Support (MOS)
 
  1. Strengthening Labor Law bill package -- S8451/A9033 (Ramos/Epstein), S8452/A9106 (Ramos/Burgos), S8453/A9079 (Ramos/Rosenthal)
    • Summaries:
      1. S8451: Provides that the commissioner of labor shall notify the chairman of the state liquor authority of certain violations of the labor law relating to wages and hours of labor; provides that the chairman of the state liquor authority shall suspend certain liquor licenses of such employers in violation of such provisions.
      2. S8452: Authorizes the commissioner of labor and the workers' compensation board to issue stop-work orders; establishes procedure for the issuance of such orders; establishes penalties for failure to comply with such orders.
      3. S8453: Provides that the commissioner of labor shall notify the commissioner of taxation and finance of certain violations of the labor law relating to wages and hours of labor; provides that the commissioner of taxation and finance shall suspend certain certificates of authority of such employers in violation of such provisions.
    • Text of bills and status: S8451, S8452, S8453.
 
  1. Amending Leave Law - S2821B (Ramos)
 
  1. Workers Rights Enforceability Act - S7925(Hoylman)/A8462(Dinowitz)
    • Summary: Prohibits the enforcement of mandatory arbitration agreements clauses and joint-action waivers with respect to workplace disputes; clarifies that section 7515 of the civil practice laws and rules applies retroactively to nullify pre-existing illegal mandatory arbitration clauses.
    • Text of bills and status: S7925, A8462