Assembly Bill A4240

2023-2024 Legislative Session

Provides for the award of attorney fees in actions under the human rights law

download bill text pdf

Sponsored By

Current Bill Status - In Assembly Committee

  • 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

Do you support this bill?

Please enter your contact information

Home address is used to determine the senate district in which you reside. Your support or opposition to this bill is then shared immediately with the senator who represents you.

Optional services from the NY State Senate:

Create an account. An account allows you to officially support or oppose key legislation, sign petitions with a single click, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Include a custom message for your Senator? (Optional)

Enter a message to your senator. Many New Yorkers use this to share the reasoning behind their support or opposition to the bill. Others might share a personal anecdote about how the bill would affect them or people they care about.
Actions

2023-A4240 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Senate Version of this Bill:
S5767
Current Committee:
Assembly Governmental Operations
Law Section:
Executive Law
Laws Affected:
Amd §297, Exec L
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:
2013-2014: A8253, S3492
2015-2016: A5441, S2380
2017-2018: A4688, S2261
2019-2020: A8795, S4085
2021-2022: A4471, S3323

2023-A4240 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Provides for the award of attorney's fees in actions under the human rights law.

2023-A4240 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf 

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   4240
 
                        2023-2024 Regular Sessions
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                             February 13, 2023
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  M.  of  A.  O'DONNELL  --  read once and referred to the
   Committee on Governmental Operations
 
 AN ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to providing  for  awards
   of attorney's fees in actions under the human rights law
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Subdivision 10 of section 297  of  the  executive  law,  as
 amended  by  chapter  154  of  the  laws  of 2022, is amended to read as
 follows:
   10. In an action or proceeding at law under this  section  or  section
 two  hundred ninety-eight of this article, the commissioner or the court
 [may in its discretion] SHALL award reasonable attorney's  fees  to  any
 prevailing or substantially prevailing [party; provided, however, that a
 prevailing  respondent  or defendant in order to recover such reasonable
 attorney's fees must make a motion requesting such fees  and  show  that
 the  action  or  proceeding  brought was frivolous; and further provided
 that in a proceeding brought  in  the  division  of  human  rights,  the
 commissioner  may  only  award  attorney's fees as part of a final order
 after a public  hearing  held  pursuant  to  subdivision  four  of  this
 section]  PLAINTIFF OR COMPLAINANT.  In no case shall attorney's fees be
 awarded to the division, nor shall the division be liable to a  prevail-
 ing  or  substantially prevailing party for attorney's fees, except in a
 case in which the division is a party to the action or the proceeding in
 the division's capacity as an employer.   Expert  witness  fees  may  be
 awarded  in  the  same manner as attorney's fees. In cases of employment
 discrimination, a respondent shall only be liable  for  attorney's  fees
 under  this  subdivision  if  the  respondent  has been found liable for
 having committed an unlawful discriminatory practice. [In order to  find
 the  action or proceeding to be frivolous, the court or the commissioner
 must find in writing one or more of the following:

  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD06021-01-3
 A. 4240                             2

Comments

Open Legislation is a forum for New York State legislation. All comments are subject to review and community moderation is encouraged.

Comments deemed off-topic, commercial, campaign-related, self-promotional; or that contain profanity, hate or toxic speech; or that link to sites outside of the nysenate.gov domain are not permitted, and will not be published. Attempts to intimidate and silence contributors or deliberately deceive the public, including excessive or extraneous posting/posts, or coordinated activity, are prohibited and may result in the temporary or permanent banning of the user. Comment moderation is generally performed Monday through Friday. By contributing or voting you agree to the Terms of Participation and verify you are over 13.

Create an account. An account allows you to sign petitions with a single click, officially support or oppose key legislation, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.