New York City

Subscribe to New York City

Recently, New York State and New York City have continued the trend of enacting employee-friendly legislation and issuing broad enforcement guidance under their respective employment laws and regulations.  New York State and New York City employers should be aware of the following recent developments from 2018 and early 2019, and should take action to review and update their practices and policies for compliance.

New York City lactation room and policy laws — new policy requirement

Federal and New York State laws already require employers to make reasonable efforts to provide a room other than a bathroom where a nursing employee can express breast milk in privacy.  New York City recently passed two laws expanding those rights.  Effective March 18, 2019, New York City employers will be subject to additional specific requirements regarding the lactation room that must be made available to nursing mothers.  New York State law already requires that the lactation room be private, well-lit, and contain, at a minimum, a chair and small table, desk, counter, or other flat surface.  The New York City law will require additional amenities in the lactation room, including an electrical outlet and nearby access to running water, and that the employer provide a refrigerator suitable for breast milk storage in reasonable proximity to the employee’s work area.  Also effective March 18, 2019, New York City employers will be required to implement a written lactation room policy that meets specified requirements, and provide a copy of the policy to all employees upon hiring.  The policy must include a statement that employees have the right to request a lactation room, and identify a process by which employees may make such request (which process must meet certain minimum requirements).

“Cooperative Dialogue” amendments to New York City Human Rights Law

Effective October 15, 2018, New York City amended its Human Rights Law to require covered employers to engage in a “cooperative dialogue” with individuals who may be entitled to a reasonable accommodation related to religious beliefs, disability, pregnancy, childbirth or a related medical condition, or because the employee was a victim of domestic violence, sex offenses, or stalking.  The law requires that covered employers follow certain procedures when they receive a request for an accommodation, or when they have notice that an individual may need an accommodation, including the following:

On May 9, 2018, New York City enacted a number of laws addressing sexual harassment in the workplace.  The laws are summarized below.  New York City employers who do not yet have anti-harassment and anti-retaliation policies in place should promptly begin the process for adopting them.  New York City employers should also begin to make arrangements for providing their employees with anti-harassment training (upon hire and annually thereafter).  Such training is now required under both New York State and New York City law.  New York State’s law, which was also recently enacted, will become effective first.  For a brief discussion of the recent New York State legislation, please see our prior blog post, New York State’s new sexual harassment prevention laws will require action by all New York employers.

Anti-Sexual Harassment Training

Beginning April 1, 2019, New York City employers with 15 or more employees (which includes interns for purposes of this new law) must provide anti-sexual harassment training to all of their New York City employees on an annual basis.  The training must also be provided to new hires (who will work more than 80 hours per year) during the first 90 days of their employment.  The training must address the following items (at a minimum):

  1. an explanation that sexual harassment is a form of unlawful discrimination under New York City, New York State, and federal law;
  2. a description, using examples, of what constitutes sexual harassment;
  3. a description of the employer’s internal procedures for reporting claims of sexual harassment;
  4. a description of the complaint process available through the New York City Commission on Human Rights, the New York State Division of Human Rights, and the United State Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for reporting claims of sexual harassment, including contact information for each agency;
  5. a statement that retaliation under the New York City human rights law is prohibited, and examples of prohibited retaliation;
  6. information regarding bystander intervention, including resources that explain how to engage in bystander intervention; and
  7. a description of the specific responsibilities of supervisory and managerial employees in the prevention of sexual harassment and retaliation, and measures that such employees can take to appropriately address complaints of sexual harassment.

Also, the training must be “interactive.”  However, the new law is clear that the training need not be in-person or live in order to be considered interactive.  The New York City Commission on Human Rights will be developing an on-line training module that can be used by employers to satisfy this training requirement, as long as employers supplement the module with a description of their internal complaint procedures.

The law requires employers to maintain records of all trainings provided, including signed employee acknowledgements, for at least three years.

New York City employers should be aware that this New York City training requirement is in addition to, and not in lieu of, the recently enacted New York State sexual harassment training requirement.  New York City employers should ensure that their training modules satisfy both state and city requirements, to the extent applicable.  To read a copy of our recent client alert summarizing the New York State requirement, please see our prior legal update, New York employers should get ready to comply with New York State’s new sexual harassment prevention laws.

Information sheet for employees

Effective September 6, 2018, all New York City employers must provide employees at the time of hire with an information sheet on sexual harassment.  This information sheet will be developed by the New York City Commission on Human Rights and may be included in the employer’s employee handbook.

New York City has recently adopted amendments to the New York City sick time law.  These amendments, which go into effect on May 5, 2018, will require action by New York City employers.

Background on New York City’s sick time law

Since April 1, 2014, all New York City employers have been required to provide sick time to their employees.  Whether such sick time is paid or unpaid depends upon the size of the employer.  New York City employers must provide each employee with a copy of the Notice of Employees Rights at the time of hire, and generally must maintain a compliant written sick time policy that is distributed to all employees.  Please see our prior legal updates for further detail on the requirements of the New York City sick time law, as follows:

New York City sick time law expanded to cover “safe time” under recent amendments

Recently, New York City passed a law, Int. 1313-A, that expands the reasons for which employees can use sick time to include “safe time,” and renames the law the New York City Earned Safe and Sick Time Act.  These amendments become effective on May 5, 2018.

Action required by New York City employers in response to recent amendments to New York City sick time law

In response to these amendments, New York City employers need to do the following:

  1. On or before May 5, 2018, update their written sick time policies to reflect the new “safe time” provisions; and
  2. On or before June 4, 2018, provide all existing New York City employees with a notice of their rights to use their sick time for “safe time” leave reasons. Note that on or after May 5, 2018, the Notice of Employee Rights provided to new hires will also need to include notice to employees of their rights to take “safe time.”