NY State Senate Bill 2023-S5277

Senate Bill S5277

2023-2024 Legislative Session

Prohibits the state from entering into certain contracts with companies requiring employees to stipulate to binding arbitration for all disputes

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Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Finance 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

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Actions

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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 03, 2024	referred to finance
Mar 01, 2023	referred to finance

co-Sponsors

2023-S5277 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Finance
Law Section:: Executive Law
Laws Affected:: Add §170-g, Exec L
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:: 2009-2010: S6723
2011-2012: S1729
2013-2014: S1840
2015-2016: S2452
2017-2018: S2298
2019-2020: S4265
2021-2022: S4659

2023-S5277 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Prohibits the state from entering into certain contracts with companies requiring employees to stipulate to binding arbitration for all disputes unless it excludes disputes involving sexual assault.

2023-S5277 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S5277

SPONSOR: PARKER
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the executive law, in relation to prohibiting the state
from entering into contracts with companies requiring employees to stip-
ulate to binding arbitration for all disputes

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

To prohibit the state from entering into contracts, or renewing
contracts, with certain companies requiring employees to agree to bind-
ing arbitration contracts for all disputes, including but not limited
to, sexual assaults.

 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Section 1: The executive law is amended by adding a new section 170-g.

Section 2: if any provision of this act or the application thereof is
held invalid, the remainder of this act and the application thereof to

other persons or circumstances shall not be affected by such holding and
shall remain in full force and effect.

Section 3: This act shall take effect immediately.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Many companies require workers to sign binding arbitration agreements as
part of their employment contracts, which require employees to forego
their right to seek legal remedies for all disputes with the employer,
including those arising from sexual assault and other assaults.

Workers who are sexually assaulted while working for defense contractors
overseas typically have few options. They cannot bring charges in the
country where the crime was committed, and the binding arbitration
clause bars them from using courts in the united States.

In one of the most infamous cases arising from this practice of overseas
contractors for defense corporations, Jamie Leigh Jones, a 20 -yr-old
employee of defense contractor ICIER, who was stationed in Iraq, stated
she was gang raped by her co-workers and imprisoned in a shipping
container when she tried to report the crime. Her father and her
congressman fought to secure her safe return to the United States, but
once home, Ms. Jones learned a fine-print clause in her KBR contract
banned her from taking her case to court, instead forcing her into an
"arbitration" process that would be run by KBR itself. Ms. Jones was
forced to go to court to sue for the right to get justice, and after
several years of litigation, she received a favorable ruling, allowing
her to seek justice. She has been pursuing the matter in court since
2005.

In 2008, a number of female employees of overseas defense contractors
testified before the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee. According to
Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida, who cited Defense Department statistics,
more than two dozen female contractor employees-working in Iraq and
Afghanistan have reported being raped or sexually assaulted. One of the
women testifying, Dawn Leaman, a mother of two active duty military
personnel, stated she was drugged and brutally gang-raped by soldiers
and coworkers. She said KBR's employee assistance Program discouraged
her from filing a formal report.

It is time the State of New York took measures to end this abhorrent
behavior and help the employees assaulted overseas to gain justice.  By
barring contractors who require their employees to sign such binding
arbitration agreements from contracting with the State of New York, this
state will step forward and help protect the employees who are unable to
find justice under current law and practice.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2021-22: S4659 - Referred to Finance

2019-20: S.4265 Referred to Finance

2017-18: S.2298 Referred to Finance

2015-16: S.2452/5795 - Referred to Finance

2013-14: S.1840/A.2628 - Referred to Finance/Infrastructure and Capital
Investment

2011-12: S.1729/A.6125 - Referred to Finance

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

Indeterminate.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.

2023-S5277 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   5277
 
                        2023-2024 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                               March 1, 2023
                                ___________
 
 Introduced by Sens. PARKER, KRUEGER, SEPULVEDA -- read twice and ordered
   printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Finance
 
 AN  ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to prohibiting the state
   from entering into contracts with  companies  requiring  employees  to
   stipulate to binding arbitration for all disputes

   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. The executive law is amended by adding a new section  170-g
 to read as follows:
   §  170-G. PROHIBITING THE STATE AND CERTAIN STATE ENTITIES FROM ENTER-
 ING INTO CONTRACTS WITH CERTAIN COMPANIES REQUIRING EMPLOYEES TO  STIPU-
 LATE  TO  BINDING  ARBITRATION AGREEMENTS. 1. NOTWITHSTANDING ANY INCON-
 SISTENT PROVISIONS OF ANY GENERAL OR SPECIAL LAW OR RESOLUTION,  NEITHER
 THE  STATE  NOR ANY STATE AGENCY INCLUDING: (I) ANY STATE DEPARTMENT, OR
 (II) ANY DIVISION, BOARD, COMMISSION, OR BUREAU OF ANY STATE DEPARTMENT,
 OR (III) THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AND THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW
 YORK, INCLUDING ALL THEIR CONSTITUENT UNITS, EXCEPT  COMMUNITY  COLLEGES
 AND  THE  INDEPENDENT  INSTITUTIONS  OPERATING  STATUTORY    OR CONTRACT
 COLLEGES ON BEHALF OF THE STATE, OR (IV) A BOARD, A  MAJORITY  OF  WHOSE
 MEMBERS  ARE  APPOINTED  BY THE GOVERNOR OR WHO SERVE BY VIRTUE OF BEING
 STATE OFFICERS OR EMPLOYEES AS DEFINED  IN  SUBPARAGRAPH  (I),  (II)  OR
 (III)  OF  PARAGRAPH (I)  OF SUBDIVISION ONE OF SECTION SEVENTY-THREE OF
 THE PUBLIC OFFICERS LAW, (V) ANY PUBLIC  AUTHORITY,  OTHER  THAN  MULTI-
 STATE AUTHORITIES, PUBLIC BENEFIT CORPORATIONS, AND COMMISSIONS AT LEAST
 ONE  OF  WHOSE MEMBERS IS APPOINTED BY THE GOVERNOR, NOR THE LEGISLATIVE
 AND JUDICIAL BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT, NOR ANY FUND OF ANY OF THE  FOREGO-
 ING,  NOR ANY OFFICER OF ANY OF THE FOREGOING, SHALL CONTRACT OR RENEW A
 CONTRACT FOR THE SUPPLY OF GOODS, SERVICES,  OR  CONSTRUCTION  WITH  ANY
 OVERSEAS  CONTRACTOR WHO DOES NOT AGREE TO STIPULATE TO THE FOLLOWING AS
 A MATERIAL CONDITION OF THE CONTRACT: THE CONTRACTOR, ANY SUBSIDIARY  OF
 A CONTRACTOR, ANY FRANCHISER OF THE CONTRACTOR, AND ANY SUBCONTRACTOR TO
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD07243-01-3

 S. 5277                             2
 
 BE  EMPLOYED  BY THE CONTRACTOR SHALL NOT UTILIZE AN EMPLOYMENT CONTRACT
 CONTAINING CLAUSES WHICH REQUIRE EMPLOYEES TO STIPULATE TO BINDING ARBI-
 TRATION AGREEMENTS FOR ALL DISPUTES  UNLESS  DISPUTES  INVOLVING  SEXUAL
 ASSAULT OR OTHER ASSAULT ARE EXCLUDED.
   2.  ANY  CONTRACTOR, ANY SUBSIDIARY OF A CONTRACTOR, FRANCHISER OF THE
 CONTRACTOR, AND ANY SUBCONTRACTOR TO BE EMPLOYED BY THE CONTRACTOR SHALL
 CERTIFY THAT IT IS IN COMPLIANCE WITH THE REQUIREMENTS OF THIS  SECTION.
 SUCH  CERTIFICATION SHALL BE FILED WITH THE STATE GOVERNMENTAL CONTRACT-
 ING PARTY AND MADE A PART OF ITS CONTRACT FILE.
   3. UPON RECEIVING INFORMATION THAT A CONTRACTOR WHO HAS MADE THE STIP-
 ULATION AND   CERTIFICATION REQUIRED BY THIS  SECTION  IS  IN  VIOLATION
 THEREOF,  THE  STATE  GOVERNMENTAL  CONTRACTING  PARTY SHALL REVIEW SUCH
 INFORMATION AND OFFER THE CONTRACTOR AN OPPORTUNITY TO RESPOND.  IF  THE
 STATE   GOVERNMENTAL  CONTRACTING  PARTY  FINDS  THAT  A  VIOLATION  HAS
 OCCURRED, IT SHALL TAKE SUCH ACTION AS MAY BE APPROPRIATE  AND  PROVIDED
 FOR  BY LAW, RULE OR REGULATION, OR CONTRACT, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED
 TO, IMPOSING SANCTIONS, SEEKING COMPLIANCE, RECOVERING DAMAGES,  DECLAR-
 ING  THE  CONTRACTOR  IN DEFAULT, AND SEEKING DEBARMENT OR SUSPENSION OF
 THE CONTRACTOR.
   § 2. If any provision of this act or the application thereof  is  held
 invalid,  the remainder of this act and the application thereof to other
 persons or circumstances shall not be affected by such holding and shall
 remain in full force and effect.
   § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.

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Senate Bill S5277

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Sponsored By

Kevin S. Parker