BILL NUMBER: S8967
SPONSOR: RAMOS
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the workers' compensation law, in relation to penalties
for discrimination against employees
 
PURPOSE:
Relates to penalties for discrimination against employees.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 increases the total penalty for discrimination from $500 to 3x
the employee's total compensation, with half going to the employee and
half going to the state treasury.
Section 2 provides the effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
When the legislature enacted Section 220 of the workers' compensation
law, it recognized that families facing serious health battles needed
both job protection and financial security. Accordingly, this section
imposes an extreme (and justifiable) penalty of 0.5% of their weekly
payroll, misdemeanor charges, and even jail time for those who fail to
implement a paid family leave system. Additionally, such employers are
barred from receiving government contracts and permits.
Yet, once coverage is in place, the law loses all its teeth. What
happens when an employer does implement the program, but then begins
discriminating against employees? They get a measly $500 fine and a
requirement to reinstate the employee (who might not even want to work
for the employer anyway).
In other words, the two provisions of law simply don't add up.
This bill simply recognizes the severity of retaliating against an
employee for using their statutory right to paid family leave and other
similar benefits by increasing the penalty to a level that is commensu-
rate to the penalty for failing to implement the program in the first
place.
When an employee is discriminated against - for example fired - for
taking care of themselves or a family member during a severe illness,
they will not only have to go through an arduous and uncertain process
to get justice and reclaim their job, but also go potentially months
without their employer-provided healthcare which they relied on.
Further, they will have to pay an attorney to assist them with their
claim, particularly if they go up against a large institution with a
legal department that is dedicated to fighting these claims. Not only
that, if the employee claims unemployment benefits, the employer can
further force a hearing contesting their eligibility, which, again, is
uncertain and forces the employee to hire an attorney. If the employee
loses that case, they would be unable to collect unemployment going
forward.
By aligning the severity of the penalty, New York would send a clear,
uncompromising message: punishing families for caring for loved ones is
unacceptable.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New Bill
 
FISCAL IMPACT:
TBD
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have
become law.