BILL NUMBER: S3371
SPONSOR: PERSAUD
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the executive law and the labor law, in relation to
prohibiting discrimination against any individual with an actual or
perceived status as a victim of domestic violence, a sex offense, or
stalking
 
PURPOSE:
The purpose of the bill is to strengthen. existing workplace protections
for survivors of gender-based violence, by ensuring that broader catego-
ries of survivors are covered and that survivors have access to broad
and meaningful reasonable accommodations, beyond leave, to escape and
address abuse while maintaining their financial security. Because many
employers remain unaware of existing protections or often fail to
comply, putting survivors at risk, this bill also seeks to ensure that
employers are required to include these protections within their
mandated workplace policies and training to address current gaps in
awareness and compliance.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 of the bill amends subdivision 22 of section 296 of the execu-
tive law to include actual and perceived victims of sex offenses and
stalking, in addition to victims of domestic violence, who are already
covered. The amendments also afford covered victims standard reasonable
accommodations that are defined by the victim to address their specific
circumstances, instead of limiting available reasonable accommodations
to leave alone.
Section 2 of the bill amends section 201-g of the labor law to require
employers to include within their sexual harassment prevention policies
and training, guidance on legal protections for survivors of gender-
based violence under section 296 of the executive law. The bill would
further require the Department of Labor to revise its model sexual
harassment prevention policy and training to incorporate this same guid-
ance.
Section 3 of the bill sets the effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
Gender-based violence is pervasive and has significant impacts on survi-
vors' ability to maintain. their employment. While New York State law
currently covers victims of domestic violence, it does not cover victims
of sex offenses, such as rape, or stalking. Survivors in these catego-
ries face similar workplace impacts and should be covered under the law.
A survivor of a sex offense or stalking, for example, often must seek
medical assistance, engage with law enforcement, obtain a protective
order, and engage in safety planning that requires drastic life changes
and can undermine the ability to maintain employment, absent additional
protections.
Moreover, while section 296 of the New York State Executive Law current-
ly affords victims of domestic violence reasonable accommodations in the
form of leave, this narrow interpretation of reasonable accommodation
fails to address the broad and pressing needs survivors face when trying
to escape abuse. As in other contexts such as disability and pregnancy,
where a reasonable accommodation may be needed, leave is only one of the
potential options an employee may need. However, leave, especially
unpaid leave, can also impose financial harm at a time when a survivor
wants and needs to continue working and earning their full income. Based
on discriminatory stereotypes of survivors, employers are known to push
employees to take leave to "deal with their situation" when in fact
other workplace adjustments would allow an employee to maintain employ-
ment in a way that better suits their needs.
In reality, survivors face a host of obstacles and barriers to maintain-
ing employment and escaping abuse that require other forms of accommo-
dations instead of leave. For example, survivors often need to change
their shift, request an adjustment to their hours, seek a transfer to a
different work location, and seek assistance to address PTSD. Workplace
adjustments, in lieu of leave, are often the most essential in helping
survivors maintain their employment while addressing the abuse and help-
ing survivors maintain their economic security and independence at a
time when they need it the most. As in other circumstances such as disa-
bility and pregnancy, survivors should be empowered to determine and
request the reasonable accommodation that addresses their specific
circumstances instead of being limited to leave alone.
Despite the existence of protections under section 296, many survivors
continue to face discrimination based on their status, are asked to
provide intrusive documentation not required under the law, denied
access to leave that they are entitled to, and are regularly retaliated
against after reporting their status. Because employers continue to be
undereducated about existing workplace protections for survivors, this
bill would advance employer awareness and compliance by requiring
employers to provide guidance on these protections in their sexual
harassment prevention policies and training and by requiring the Depart-
ment of Labor to incorporate such guidance in its model sexual harass-
ment preventing policy and training.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2024: S7996 - Referred to Investigations and Government Operations
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
None.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect January 1, 2026.

Statutes affected:
S3371: 296 executive law, 296(22) executive law