BILL NUMBER: S3255

SPONSOR: HOYLMAN-SIGAL
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the executive law, in relation to extending the statute
of limitations for claims resulting from unlawful discriminatory prac-
tices to three years

 
PURPOSE:

This bill would extend the administrative statute of limitations for any
unlawful discrimination practice from one year to three years.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 of the bill amends Section 297 ("Procedure") of Article 15 of
the Executive Law ("Human Rights Law") to extend the statute of limita-
tions for filing complaints about any alleged unlawful discriminatory
practices to the New York State Division of Human Rights (DHR) from one
year to three years, consistent with the current statute of limitations
for administration complaints to DHR alleging sexual harassment in
              

employment.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

The time frame within which victims of unlawful discriminatory practices
must file administrative complaints with the Division of Human Rights to
trigger an investigation is insufficiently short as compared to the
amount of time it may take for a victim to come to terms with their
harassment. Recognizing this, the Legislature in 2019 increased the
statute of limitations from one to three years for unlawful discrimina-
tory practices that constituted sexual harassment in employment.

This bill would raise the statute of limitations for all administrative
unlawful discriminatory practice complaints to three years, consistent
with the current law for unlawful discriminatory practices that consti-
tute sexual harassment in employment.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

S.0566-A of 2021-2022 (Hoylman): Passed Senate/Died in Codes

A.8053 of 2021-2022 (Rozic): Died in Codes

S.2378 of 2019-2020 (Hoylman): Died in Investigations and Government
Operations

S.8712 of 2018 (Hoylman): Died in Investigations and Government Oper-
ations

A.10776 of 2018 (Rozic): died in Governmental Operations

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

Undetermined.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have
become a law.