Impact of New York State Senate Legislation to Workplace Sexual Harassment, Affects All Businesses Regardless of Size (bill S7848A)

In March 2018, the New York State Senate passed comprehensive legislation to sexual harassment in New York’s workplaces. The bill (S7848A), will prevent individuals from engaging in misconduct that creates a hostile work environment in either the public or private sectors, and encourage victims to come forward.
The major reforms include:

• Establishing a statutory definition of sexual harassment;
• Prohibiting the anonymity of the accused in court-approved settlements and banning mandatory sexual harassment arbitration clauses;
• Prohibiting confidentiality agreements unless the victim requests confidentiality;
• Expanding protections to independent contractors;
• Creating uniform policies for all branches of state and local government;
• And protecting hardworking taxpayers from paying for public sector harassment settlements.

1. Effective April 12, 2018, the New York State Human Rights Law is amended to grant sexual harassment protection to non-employees, including contractors, subcontractors, vendors, consultants, and others who provide services under a contract.
2. Effective July 11, 2018, employers in New York are prohibited from requiring employees to submit their sexual harassment claims to mandatory arbitration, even if agreements to arbitrate such claims were in place prior to the effective date of the law. It is anticipated that employers will challenge this legislation as being preempted by the Federal Arbitration Act.
3. Also effective July 11, 2018, employers are prohibited from including a non-disclosure provision in settlements agreements for sexual harassment claims. However, where the plaintiff/complainant prefers the inclusion of such a provision, he/she shall have 21 days to consider and accept the non-disclosure/confidentiality provision, and he/she shall then have 7 days to revoke acceptance of the agreement with a confidentially provision once signed.
4. Starting October 9, 2018, all employers in New York (regardless of size) will be required to adopt a written sexual harassment policy and conduct annual trainings, which must be “interactive”. Employers will have the option of adopting the State’s model training program and policy (which will be developed by the Department of Labor, but have not yet been released), or employers can create their own policy and training program, which must equal or exceed the State’s requirements.  At a minimum, the policy must:
   1. Prohibit sexual harassment and provide examples of prohibited conduct;
   2. Include information concerning federal and state laws on sexual harassment and remedies available to victims;
   3. Include a model complaint form;
   4. Inform employees of rights and redress available to them and all forums where disputes can be adjudicated; and
   5. State that sexual harassment is a form of employee misconduct and sanctions will be enforced against individuals engaging in sexual harassment and against supervisory and management personnel who knowingly allow such behavior to continue.

______________________________________________________________________
The Dutchess County Regional Chamber of Commerce may consider providing training on this important legislation and is asking for feedback from our members to gather if there is enough interest. If you are interested, please email frontdesk@dcrcoc.org expressing same with bill (S7848A) in the subject.