NY State Senate Bill S6828

Archive: Last Bill Status - Passed Senate

Introduced
In Committee
On Floor Calendar
- Passed Senate
- Passed Assembly
Delivered to Governor
Signed/Vetoed by Governor

Your Voice

Please enter your contact information

First Name *

Last Name *

Email Address *

A valid email address is required.

Home address search or enter your address manually *

Home address is used to determine the senate district in which you reside. Your support or opposition to this bill is then shared immediately with the senator who represents you.

Optional services from the NY State Senate:

Create an account. An account allows you to officially support or oppose key legislation, sign petitions with a single click, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Include a custom message for your Senator? (Optional)

Enter a message to your senator. Many New Yorkers use this to share the reasoning behind their support or opposition to the bill. Others might share a personal anecdote about how the bill would affect them or people they care about.

Leave this field blank

Actions

view actions (8)

	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jul 21, 2020	referred to governmental operations delivered to assembly passed senate
Mar 10, 2020	advanced to third reading
Mar 04, 2020	2nd report cal.
Mar 03, 2020	1st report cal.538
Jan 08, 2020	referred to investigations and government operations
Nov 01, 2019	referred to rules

Votes

view votes

Jul 21, 2020 - floor Vote

S6828

floor

Aye

Nay

Absent

Excused

Abstained

Mar 3, 2020 - Investigations and Government Operations committee Vote

S6828

committee

Aye

Nay

Aye with Reservations

Absent

Excused

Abstained

show Investigations and Government Operations committee vote details

Investigations and Government Operations Committee Vote: Mar 3, 2020

aye (5)

aye wr (2)

Jacobs
Lanza

Co-Sponsors

view additional co-sponsors

S6828 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A8847
Law Section:: Executive Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §292, Exec L
Versions Introduced in 2021-2022 Legislative Session:: S3395, A2483

S6828 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Includes the state and all public employers as employers subject to the provisions of the human rights law; includes executive, legislative and judicial employers.

S6828 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

 
BILL NUMBER: S6828

SPONSOR: GOUNARDES
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the executive law, in relation to the definition of
"employer" for purposes of the human rights law

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

To close the "personal staff' loophole by clarifying that the state is
considered an employer of anyone serving in the executive, judiciary,
and legislative branches, including the staff of elected officials or
judges.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 amends section 292 of the Executive Law, as amended by Ch.
161 of the laws of 2019, to provide that the state shall be considered
the direct employer of elected and appointed officials and their staff
for the purposes of the Human Rights Law.

Section 2 sets the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Chapter 161 of 2019 comprises the most comprehensive and aggressive
anti-harassment legislation to date. The legislature took historic
action to close loopholes that allowed employers to escape liability for
the behavior of their employers, eliminating parts of the
Faragher/Ellerth defense and requiring that employers provide all
employees with a notice of their office's sexual harassment prevention
policy. There is, however, another loophole left to close.

Though some readers would plainly interpret subdivision 5 of the Human
Rights Law, detailing that the term "employer" includes all employers
within the state, as inclusive of the state itself, it has not been been
so construed by the courts. In at least three high-profile cases to
date, judges have agreed with arguments of attorneys general that the
state is not the direct employer of either the staff of elected offi-
cials in the Senate and Assembly or of court attorneys who are working
for state judges. They have, instead, deferred to Title VII of the Civil
Rights Act, which excludes elected officials and their "personal staff'
from protections against harassment. This provision has even been
construed to include the personal staff of appointed officials such as
judges.

It is therefore necessary to once and for all clarify that the state
shall not be able to avoid responsibility for harassment of public
employees by citing a loophole in federal law. This legislation will
rectify this injustice by ensuring that 2019's sweeping new anti-harass-
ment regulations protect both public and private employees.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New bill.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

TBD

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect at the same time as Chapter 161. If Ch. 161
goes into effect and the act has not yet passed, it shall be deemed to
have been in effect as of the effective date of Ch. 161.

S6828 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf


                    S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________

                                  6828

                       2019-2020 Regular Sessions

                            I N  S E N A T E

                            November 1, 2019
                               ___________

Introduced  by  Sens.  GOUNARDES, BIAGGI, KRUEGER, LIU -- read twice and
  ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee  on
  Rules

AN  ACT  to  amend  the  executive law, in relation to the definition of
  "employer" for purposes of the human rights law

  THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  Section  1.  Subdivision  5  of  section  292 of the executive law, as
amended by chapter 161 of the laws  of  2019,  is  amended  to  read  as
follows:
  5.  The  term "employer" shall include all employers within the state.
FOR THE PURPOSES OF THIS ARTICLE, THE STATE OF NEW YORK SHALL BE CONSID-
ERED AN EMPLOYER OF ANY EMPLOYEE OR OFFICIAL OF THE NEW YORK STATE EXEC-
UTIVE, LEGISLATURE, OR JUDICIARY, INCLUDING PERSONS SERVING IN ANY JUDI-
CIAL CAPACITY, AND PERSONS SERVING ON THE STAFF OF ANY ELECTED  OFFICIAL
IN NEW YORK STATE.
  §  2.  This  act  shall  take  effect on the same date and in the same
manner as chapter 161 of the  laws  of  2019,  takes  effect;  provided,
however,  if  this  act shall have become a law after such date it shall
take effect immediately and shall be deemed to have been in  full  force
and effect on and after the effective date of chapter 161 of the laws of
2019.




 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                           LBD13921-03-9

Comments

Open Legislation is a forum for New York State legislation. All comments are subject to review and community moderation is encouraged.

Comments deemed off-topic, commercial, campaign-related, self-promotional; or that contain profanity, hate or toxic speech; or that link to sites outside of the nysenate.gov domain are not permitted, and will not be published. Attempts to intimidate and silence contributors or deliberately deceive the public, including excessive or extraneous posting/posts, or coordinated activity, are prohibited and may result in the temporary or permanent banning of the user. Comment moderation is generally performed Monday through Friday. By contributing or voting you agree to the Terms of Participation and verify you are over 13.

The New York State Senate

senate Bill S6828

Sponsored By

Archive: Last Bill Status - Passed Senate

Your Voice

Actions

Votes

Jul 21, 2020 - floor Vote

Floor Vote: Jul 21, 2020

Mar 3, 2020 - Investigations and Government Operations committee Vote

Investigations and Government Operations Committee Vote: Mar 3, 2020

Co-Sponsors

S6828 (ACTIVE) - Details

S6828 (ACTIVE) - Summary

S6828 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

S6828 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments

senate Bill S6828

Share this bill

Sponsored By

Archive: Last Bill Status - Passed Senate

Your Voice

Actions

Votes

Jul 21, 2020 - floor Vote

Floor Vote: Jul 21, 2020

Mar 3, 2020 - Investigations and Government Operations committee Vote

Investigations and Government Operations Committee Vote: Mar 3, 2020

Co-Sponsors

S6828 (ACTIVE) - Details

S6828 (ACTIVE) - Summary

S6828 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

S6828 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments