Senator Flanagan Joins Senate Colleagues To Approve Women’s Equality Package

            Senator John Flanagan (2^nd Senate District) joined with his fellow members of the Senate Republican Conference and the Senate Independent Democratic Conference to approve a comprehensive Women’s Equality Agenda that would enhance the rights of women and protect those who are most vulnerable to abuse and discrimination.

            The comprehensive package of eight bills would: stop human trafficking; ensure equal pay for equal work; combat sexual harassment in the workplace; end gender discrimination in employment, housing and credit decisions; make reasonable work accommodations available for pregnant women; and provide stronger protections for domestic violence victims.

            The eight bills comprising the Senate’s Women’s Equality Agenda were passed in 2013 and 2014. The measures include:

• Preventing the exploitation of children and adults who are victims of human trafficking (S.7 - Passed by Assembly)
• Ensuring that women receive equal pay for equal work by prohibiting employers from paying employees disparate amounts due to gender (S.1 - Passed by Assembly);
• Requiring employers to provide reasonable accommodations to employees with pregnancy-related medical conditions (S.8 - Passed by Assembly);
• Preventing employment discrimination based on family status (S.4);
• Preventing housing discrimination against domestic violence victims (S.5);
• Ensuring that all employees are protected from sexual harassment by applying existing protections to businesses of all sizes (S.2 - Passed by Assembly);
• Removing financial barriers to fighting discrimination by allowing the recovery of reasonable attorney’s fees in successful employment or credit discrimination cases based on sex (S.3); and
• Enabling victims of domestic violence to file orders of protection electronically instead of having to appear in court (S.6 - Passed by Assembly).

Legislation that was an original part of the Senate’s Women’s Equality Agenda was enacted into law in 2013 (Chapter 480).  That law strengthened orders of protection for domestic violence victims and clarifies that a victim for whom an order of protection is issued cannot be arrested for violating that same order.

The remaining components of the Senate’s historic women’s package remain a top priority of the Senate leadership and were sent to the Assembly for quick action.

“The Women’s Equality Agenda will empower women to break down barriers that perpetuate violence, discrimination and inequality based on gender.  It is imperative that the Assembly listen to the growing voice of those who support this package and that they move quickly to protect the residents of our state,” stated Senator Flanagan.  “This package is too important to every New Yorker to delay its passage for any reason.”