BILL NUMBER: S2494

SPONSOR: GOUNARDES
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the civil rights law, in relation to actions involving
public petition and participation

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

To protect victims of employment discrimination from baseless libel or
defamation suits

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section one of the bill amends section 70-a of Civil Rights Law to
provide compensatory damages under the anti-SLAPP statute for actions
inhibiting rights under any federal, state, or local law preventing
employment discrimination or retaliation.

Section two of the bill amends section 76-a of the Civil Rights Law to
include allegations, wherever made, concerning unlawful employment
              

discrimination as an "action involving public petition and partic-
ipation" in the anti-SLAPP statute.

Section three provides that this act shall take effect immediately and
shall apply to all actions commenced on and after such date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

This bill aims to protect victims of workplace discrimination based on a
protected class (age, race, creed, color, national origin, sexual orien-
tation, gender identity or expression, military status, sex, disability,
predisposing genetic characteristics, familial status, marital status,
or status as a victim of domestic violence) covered under the NYS or NYC
human rights law or federal anti-discrimination law. Victims of discrim-
ination such as sexual harassment will frequently find themselves the
subjects of defamation suits for libel or slander. These retaliatory
tactics then have the desired effect of getting the victim to abandon
their complaint or significantly delaying the investigation and adjudi-
cation of the underlying harassment as well as deterring future victims
at the worksite from coming forward.

This bill aims to eliminate this nefarious court tactic by making it
subject to New York's anti-SLAPP statute, which helps to defeat Strate-
gic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP). The anti-SLAPP law,
contained in Section 76-a of the Civil Rights Law, helps fend off calcu-
lated lawsuits that are intended to silence a group or individual with
the cost and ordeal of litigation. If the defendant being sued, such as
a journalist, believes that the lawsuit is merely intended to silence
them, they provide proof to the court that the claim of the case relates
to their exercise of free speech rights "on a matter of public inter-
est." The defendant must then submit documentary evidence and sworn
statements in support of the motion while the discovery process is put
on hold. The burden of proof then shifts to the plaintiff bringing the
suit to show that the claim has a "substantial basis in law." If they
cannot do so and the action is dismissed, the plaintiff must pay the
defendant's attorney's fees and litigation costs. The defendant may also
be awarded "other compensatory damages" and punitive damages if they can
show that the case was brought with the sole intent to harass, intim-
idate, punish, or maliciously inhibit their free spe ech or association
rights.

New York significantly expanded its anti-SLAPP protections with Ch.  250
of 2020, which previously applied only to lawsuits initiated by business
entities that were involved in a public application or permit. This bill
would build upon this 2020 expansion by providing that "protected alle-
gations," defined as workplace complaints of illegal discrimination or
retaliation, are also subject to anti-SLAPP. It is the sponsor's belief
that, in making frivolous defamation suits easier to dismiss as well as
more likely to result in attorneys fees and other recompense for the
defendant when they are wrongly brought, victims of workplace discrimi-
nation and/or retaliation will be better protected when they decide to
speak up about the harms they are witnessing or experiencing at the
jobsite.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2024: S4493A - Passed Senate, died in Assembly

2023: S4493A - Referred to Codes

2022: S9293A - Passed Senate, died in Assembly

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

TBD

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply to all actions
commenced on or after such date.