Assembly Bill A8092B

2021-2022 Legislative Session

Clarifies that workers shall not be punished or subjected to discipline by employers for lawful absences

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Archive: Last Bill Status - Passed Senate & Assembly


  • Introduced
    • In Committee Assembly
    • In Committee Senate
    • On Floor Calendar Assembly
    • On Floor Calendar Senate
    • Passed Assembly
    • Passed Senate
  • Delivered to Governor
  • Signed By Governor

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Bill Amendments

2021-A8092 - Details

See Senate Version of this Bill:
S1958
Law Section:
Labor Law
Laws Affected:
Amd §215, Lab L

2021-A8092 - Summary

Clarifies that workers shall not be punished or subjected to discipline by employers for lawful absences.

2021-A8092 - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   8092
 
                        2021-2022 Regular Sessions
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                               June 11, 2021
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by M. of A. REYES -- read once and referred to the Committee
   on Labor
 
 AN ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to clarifying that  work-
   ers  shall not be punished or subjected to discipline by employers for
   lawful absences
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section   1.  Legislative  intent.  Too  often,  absence  control,  or
 "no-fault" attendance policies, violate  workers'  rights  in  New  York
 state and discourage them from taking job-protected leave or time off to
 which  they  are  entitled  by  law.  Under  such  policies, workers are
 assessed points (sometimes referred to as "demerits"  or  "occurrences")
 for  each  absence - regardless of the reason - and those points subject
 them to discipline, often including  termination.  Employers  ignore  or
 interfere  with these rights due to ambiguities in the law and their own
 policies and practices. By punishing workers for any absence,  including
 absences  protected by law, absence control policies frequently threaten
 public health and family economic security, and undermine New York state
 workplace rights.    According to A Better  Balance,  which  released  a
 report  detailing  legal concerns with "no-fault" attendance policies in
 June 2020, some of the nation's largest employers maintain policies that
 "reliably fail to inform workers about their legal rights to  take  time
 off  without  punishment  for  certain  illnesses, health conditions, or
 disabilities, or for the need to care for an ill loved one" under state,
 local, and federal civil rights laws. After surveying  the  policies  of
 sixty-six  U.S. employers impacting approximately eighteen million work-
 ers, A Better Balance found that more than 80% of those policies  failed
 to make clear that employees would not receive points for disability-re-
 lated  absences;  many  provided incomplete or misleading information to
 workers regarding their right to time off under the federal  Family  and
 Medical  Leave  Act  (FMLA);  and the majority of the policies indicated
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
              

co-Sponsors

2021-A8092A - Details

See Senate Version of this Bill:
S1958
Law Section:
Labor Law
Laws Affected:
Amd §215, Lab L

2021-A8092A - Summary

Clarifies that workers shall not be punished or subjected to discipline by employers for lawful absences.

2021-A8092A - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                  8092--A
 
                        2021-2022 Regular Sessions
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                               June 11, 2021
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by M. of A. REYES -- read once and referred to the Committee
   on Labor -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered  reprinted  as
   amended and recommitted to said committee
 
 AN  ACT  to  amend  the  executive  law,  the labor law and the workers'
   compensation law, in relation to clarifying that workers shall not  be
   punished or subjected to discipline by employers for lawful absences
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may  be  cited  as
 the "Fair Attendance Policy and Practices Act".
   §  2.  Legislative  intent.    It  is the intent of the New York state
 legislature to make it  explicitly  clear  that  workers  shall  not  be
 punished  or  subjected  to discipline for lawful absences. Workers have
 the right to take legally-protected time off from their jobs to  address
 certain medical, caregiving, and religious needs without penalty.
   §  3.  Section  292  of  the  executive law is amended by adding a new
 subdivision 40 to read as follows:
   40. THE TERM "ABSENCE CONTROL OR  NO-FAULT  ATTENDANCE  POLICY"  SHALL
 MEAN  A  POLICY,  PATTERN,  OR PRACTICE MAINTAINED BY AN EMPLOYER, LABOR
 ORGANIZATION, OR EMPLOYMENT AGENCY UNDER  WHICH  EMPLOYEES  FACE  CONSE-
 QUENCES  FOR  ANY ABSENCE, TARDY, OR EARLY DEPARTURE THROUGH THE ASSESS-
 MENT OF POINTS, ALSO  REFERRED  TO  AS  "DEMERITS  OF  OCCURRENCES",  OR
 DEDUCTIONS  FROM AN ALLOTTED BANK OF TIME, AND SUCH POINTS OR DEDUCTIONS
 SUBJECT THE  EMPLOYEE  TO  PROGRESSIVE  DISCIPLINARY  ACTION  WHICH  MAY
 INCLUDE FAILURE TO RECEIVE A PROMOTION, LOSS OF PAY, OR TERMINATION.
   §  4.  Subdivision 1 of section 296 of the executive law is amended by
 adding a new paragraph (i) to read as follows:
   (I) FOR AN EMPLOYER,  LABOR  ORGANIZATION,  OR  EMPLOYMENT  AGENCY  TO
 ASSESS  POINTS,  OCCURRENCES, OR OTHERWISE DISCIPLINE EMPLOYEES, INCLUD-
 ING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THROUGH AN ABSENCE CONTROL OR NO-FAULT  ATTEND-
 ANCE  POLICY,  FOR ABSENCES RELATED TO AN ACCOMMODATION TO A KNOWN DISA-
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD03487-05-2
              

co-Sponsors

2021-A8092B (ACTIVE) - Details

See Senate Version of this Bill:
S1958
Law Section:
Labor Law
Laws Affected:
Amd §215, Lab L

2021-A8092B (ACTIVE) - Summary

Clarifies that workers shall not be punished or subjected to discipline by employers for lawful absences.

2021-A8092B (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                  8092--B
 
                        2021-2022 Regular Sessions
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                               June 11, 2021
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by M. of A. REYES, JACOBSON -- read once and referred to the
   Committee on Labor --  committee  discharged,  bill  amended,  ordered
   reprinted  as amended and recommitted to said committee -- recommitted
   to the Committee on Labor in accordance with Assembly Rule 3,  sec.  2
   --  committee  discharged,  bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended
   and recommitted to said committee
 
 AN ACT to amend the labor law, in relation to  clarifying  that  workers
   shall  not  be  punished  or  subjected to discipline by employers for
   lawful absences
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 1 of section 215 of the labor
 law, as amended by chapter 564 of the laws of 2010,  the  closing  para-
 graph  as  added  by  chapter  126  of  the  laws of 2019, is amended as
 follows:
   (a) No employer or his or her agent, or the officer or  agent  of  any
 corporation,  partnership,  or  limited  liability company, or any other
 person, shall discharge, threaten, penalize,  or  in  any  other  manner
 discriminate or retaliate against any employee (i) because such employee
 has  made  a complaint to his or her employer, or to the commissioner or
 his or her authorized representative, or to the attorney general or  any
 other  person, that the employer has engaged in conduct that the employ-
 ee, reasonably and in good faith, believes  violates  any  provision  of
 this  chapter, or any order issued by the commissioner (ii) because such
 employer or person believes that such employee has made a  complaint  to
 his  or  her  employer,  or to the commissioner or his or her authorized
 representative, or to the attorney general, or to any other person  that
 the  employer  has  violated any provision of this chapter, or any order
 issued by the commissioner (iii) because such employee has caused to  be
 instituted  or  is  about  to institute a proceeding under or related to
 this chapter, or (iv) because such employee has provided information  to

  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD03487-10-2
              

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