Assembly Bill A10326A

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                 10326--A
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                              April 22, 2020
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by M. of A. REYES -- read once and referred 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 prohibiting health care
   employers from penalizing employees because of complaints of  employer
   violations

   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Subdivisions 1, 2 and 3 of section 741 of the labor law, as
 added by chapter 24 of the laws of 2002, paragraph (b) of subdivision  1
 as  amended  by  chapter 505 of the laws of 2003, are amended to read as
 follows:
   1. Definitions. As used in this section,  the  following  terms  shall
 have the following meanings:
   (a)  "Employee" means any person who performs health care services for
 and under the control and direction of any public  or  private  employer
 which provides health care services for wages or other remuneration.
   (b)  "Employer"  means  any partnership, association, corporation, the
 state, or any political subdivision of the  state  which:  (i)  provides
 health  care services in a facility licensed pursuant to article twenty-
 eight or thirty-six of the public health law; (ii) provides health  care
 services  within  a  primary  or  secondary  public or private school or
 public or private university setting; (iii) operates and provides health
 care services under the mental hygiene law or  the  correction  law;  or
 (iv)  is registered with the department of education pursuant to section
 sixty-eight hundred eight of the education law.
   (c) "Agent" means any  individual,  partnership,  association,  corpo-
 ration, or group of persons acting on behalf of an employer.
   (d)  "Improper quality of patient care" means, with respect to patient
 care, any practice, procedure, action or failure to act of  an  employer
 which  violates  any law, rule, regulation or declaratory ruling adopted
 pursuant to law, where such violation relates to matters which may pres-
 ent a substantial and specific danger to public health or  safety  or  a
 significant threat to the health of a specific patient.
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
              

                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD16155-03-0

 A. 10326--A                         2
 
   (e)  "IMPROPER  QUALITY  OF  WORKPLACE  SAFETY" MEANS, WITH RESPECT TO
 EMPLOYEES, ANY PRACTICE, PROCEDURE, ACTION  OR  FAILURE  TO  ACT  OF  AN
 EMPLOYER WHICH VIOLATES ANY LAW, RULE, REGULATION, OR DECLARATORY RULING
 ADOPTED  PURSUANT  TO  LAW WHERE SUCH VIOLATION RELATES TO MATTERS WHICH
 MAY  PRESENT  AN UNSAFE WORKPLACE ENVIRONMENT OR RISK OF EMPLOYEE SAFETY
 OR A SIGNIFICANT THREAT TO THE HEALTH OF A SPECIFIC EMPLOYEE.
   (F) "Public body" means:
   (1) the United States Congress, any state legislature, or any  elected
 local governmental body, or any member or employee thereof;
   (2) any federal, state or local court, or any member or employee ther-
 eof, any grand or petit jury;
   (3)  any  federal, state or local regulatory, administrative or public
 agency or authority, or instrumentality thereof;
   (4) any federal, state or local law enforcement agency,  prosecutorial
 office, or police or peace officer;
   (5)  any  federal, state or local department of an executive branch of
 government; or
   (6) any division, board, bureau, office, committee  or  commission  of
 any of the public bodies described in subparagraph one, two, three, four
 or five of this paragraph.
   [(f)]  (G)  "Retaliatory  action"  means  the  discharge,  suspension,
 demotion, penalization or discrimination against an employee,  or  other
 adverse  employment  action  taken  against an employee in the terms and
 conditions of employment.
   [(g)] (H) "Supervisor" means any person within an employer's organiza-
 tion who has the authority to direct and control the work performance of
 an employee, or who has the authority to take corrective action  regard-
 ing  the  violation  of  a  law, rule or regulation to which an employee
 submits a complaint.
   2. Retaliatory action prohibited. Notwithstanding any other  provision
 of  law,  no employer shall take retaliatory action against any employee
 because the employee does any of the following:
   (a) discloses or threatens to disclose to  a  supervisor,  [or]  to  a
 public  body,  TO A NEWS MEDIA OUTLET, OR TO A SOCIAL MEDIA FORUM AVAIL-
 ABLE TO THE PUBLIC AT LARGE, an activity,  policy  or  practice  of  the
 employer  or agent that the employee, in good faith, reasonably believes
 constitutes improper quality of patient  care  OR  IMPROPER  QUALITY  OF
 WORKPLACE SAFETY; or
   (b)  objects  to, or refuses to participate in any activity, policy or
 practice of the employer or agent that  the  employee,  in  good  faith,
 reasonably  believes  constitutes  improper  quality  of patient care OR
 IMPROPER QUALITY OF WORKPLACE SAFETY.
   3. Application. The protection against  retaliatory  personnel  action
 provided  by  subdivision two of this section shall not apply unless the
 employee has brought the improper quality of patient  care  OR  IMPROPER
 QUALITY  OF  WORKPLACE  SAFETY  to the attention of a supervisor and has
 afforded the employer a reasonable opportunity to correct such activity,
 policy or practice. This subdivision shall not apply  to  an  action  or
 failure  to  act  described  in paragraph (a) of subdivision two of this
 section where the improper quality of patient care OR  IMPROPER  QUALITY
 OF  WORKPLACE  SAFETY  described  therein presents an imminent threat to
 public health or safety or to  the  health  of  a  specific  patient  OR
 SPECIFIC  HEALTH  CARE  EMPLOYEE and the employee reasonably believes in
 good faith that reporting to a supervisor would not result in corrective
 action.
   § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.