Senate Bill S61

                                 BILL NUMBER:  S61                REVISED 05/18/09

 TITLE OF BILL :
An act to amend the labor law, in relation to prohibiting certain
retaliatory personnel action by employers

 PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL :
To protect individuals that disclose acts of employers or fellow
employees that violate the law, while maintaining the "substantial and
specific danger to public health or safety" requirement for the
disclosure of acts that violate rules or regulations.

 SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS :
Paragraph (a) amends section 740 of the labor law by limiting the
"substantial and specific danger to public health or safety"
requirement to only the disclosure of violations of rules and
regulations.

Paragraph (a-1) adds a new sub-section to section 740 of the labor law
that protects employees that disclose to a supervisor or public body
activities, policies, or practices of their employer or other
employees that violates the law.

 EFFECTS OF PRESENT LAW WHICH THIS BILL WOULD ALTER :
The current law protects employees that disclose - to their
supervisors or a public body - only those activities, policies, or
              

practices of their employer that present a substantial and specific
danger to the public health or safety.

This bill would amend the current law so it would protect the
disclosure - to an employee's supervisor or a public body - of all
activities, policies, or practices of an employer or other employee
that violates the law.

However, the bill would retain the "substantial and specific danger to
public health or safety" requirement for the disclosure of activities,
policies, or practices of an employer to a supervisor or a public body
that violate a rule or regulation.

 JUSTIFICATION :
Scandals such as Enron and at the New York Stock Exchange have
spotlighted a recent trend of misconduct by businesses and
organizations nationwide. As an attempt to prevent such scandals and
ensure that the law is enforced, provisions must be taken to protect
individuals who disclose information to the authorities about the
illegal acts of their employers.

The present law protects only those disclosures that create and
present a substantial and specific danger to the public health or
safety. While this provision is important and necessary to the
enforcement of rules and regulations, it fails to protect individuals
that make good faith disclosures regarding illegal acts that do not
pertain to public health or safety. This consequence only frustrates
the purpose for such a law and restricts the enforcement of several
laws designed to protect the people.

For example, the Court of Appeals denied an action by an employee, who
alleged her employer was billing the City of New York for the services
of employees that did not exist, because fraud does not involve a
"substantial and specific danger to the public health or safety."
 REMBA V.  FEDERATION EMPLOYMENT AND GUIDANCE SERVICE , 149 A.D .2d
131 (1 st Dept. 1989), aff'd 76 N.Y.2d 801.

In addition, a mental health aide was not protected under the present
law when she reported the rape of a patient to the authorities,
because the act only affected the health and safety of a single
individual and not the public at large.  KERN V. DEPAUL MENTAL HEALTH
SERVICES. INC. , 139 Misc. 2d 970 (Monroe S.Ct. 1988), aff'd 152
A.D.2d 957 (4th Dept. 1989).

Furthermore, an action is in current litigation on behalf of two
computer technicians who were fired from their jobs when they reported
to police 150,000 images of child pornography that they had found on
the computer of a New York Law School professor. While this matter has
yet to be litigated, it is doubtful given past decisions that the
present law will protect either employee.

Because of the law's limited application, employers can still seek
retribution against their employees for disclosing information about
many illegal act and/or practices without any recourse on behalf of
the employee. This amendment is necessary to ensure that the laws of
New York are enforced and the citizens who report these acts are
protected.

 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :
S.2155 of 2008
02/01/08 Referred to Labor

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS :
None.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
This act shall take effect immediately.