Bill Text: NY A00641 | 2025-2026 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires sexual harassment training for hotel and motel employees; requires operators to certify to the department that they have conducted sexual harassment training; provides such training every two years for employees; requires "know your rights" brochure and employee bill of rights.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2025-01-08 - referred to labor [A00641 Detail]
Download: New_York-2025-A00641-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 641 2025-2026 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY (Prefiled) January 8, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. ROSENTHAL -- read once and referred to the Committee on Labor AN ACT to amend the labor law, in relation to requiring sexual harass- ment training for hotel and motel employees The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The labor law is amended by adding a new section 202-m to 2 read as follows: 3 § 202-m. Sexual harassment training for hotel and motel employees. 1. 4 On or after the ninetieth day after the effective date of this section, 5 hotels and motels shall provide sexual harassment training to its 6 employees via a classroom or other effective interactive training and 7 shall include, but not be limited to, the following topics: 8 (a) Information and practical guidance regarding federal, state and 9 local statutory laws about sexual harassment; 10 (b) Information about the correction of sexual harassment and the 11 remedies available to victims of sexual harassment; 12 (c) Practical examples aimed at instructing supervisors in the 13 prevention of sexual harassment, discrimination, and retaliation. 14 2. Hotels and motels shall have two months from the hiring date of any 15 new employee to provide sexual harassment training for such employee. 16 3. Employees shall receive training every two years following their 17 initial training. 18 4. On or before April first following the training required pursuant 19 to subdivision one of this section, and every year thereafter, operators 20 of such hotel or motel shall certify to the department that they have 21 conducted sexual harassment training and shall include an electronic 22 list of the employees who participated in the training. The department 23 will issue a hotel or motel a certificate of compliance upon receiving 24 such list. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD02642-01-5A. 641 2 1 5. Immediately upon commencement of employment and prior to their 2 sexual harassment training, employees shall be provided with a "know 3 your rights" brochure detailing the rights and remedies available under 4 federal, state and local law. The brochure shall be produced by the 5 department, in plain English, and shall be made available in other 6 languages, including but not limited to Spanish, Haitian French, Chinese 7 and Russian. Employees shall sign a statement on a document to be 8 produced by the department, certifying that they have received the "know 9 your rights" brochure required pursuant to this section. 10 6. Employers shall conspicuously post an employee's bill of rights to 11 be promulgated by the department. The bill of rights shall be written in 12 plain English, and shall be made available in other languages, including 13 but not limited to Spanish, Haitian French, Chinese and Russian. 14 7. The department shall establish protocol for sexual harassment 15 training which shall be available online to hotels and motels subject to 16 the provisions of this section. 17 8. Under the supervision of the department, all employers shall create 18 and implement a comprehensive and confidential incident reporting 19 system, and shall put clear procedures in place to guide employees and 20 managers in the reporting of sexual harassment incidents. 21 9. Failure to comply with the provisions of this section shall result 22 in a penalty of five hundred dollars for the first violation, and for 23 the second and each subsequent violation, the penalty shall be one thou- 24 sand dollars. 25 10. (a) Failure to provide the training and education required by this 26 section may be considered as a factor in determining whether an employer 27 may be held liable for a claim of sexual harassment or hostile work 28 environment under applicable law, but liability may not be predicated 29 solely upon such failure. An employer's compliance with this section 30 shall not constitute a defense in any judicial or administrative 31 proceeding where a claim of sexual harassment or hostile work environ- 32 ment has been brought. 33 (b) Employers shall be prohibited from retaliating against any employ- 34 ee who exercises their rights under this section, or any employee 35 reporting a complaint to management or the authorities that they have 36 not received training pursuant to this section or a complaint of sexual 37 harassment. 38 11. The training and education required by this section is intended to 39 establish a minimum threshold and should not discourage, or relieve any 40 employer from providing for longer, more frequent, or more elaborate 41 training and education regarding workplace harassment or other forms of 42 unlawful discrimination in order to meet its obligations to take all 43 reasonable steps necessary to prevent and correct harassment and 44 discrimination. 45 12. For purposes of this section, the following terms shall have the 46 following meanings: 47 (a) "Hotel" and/or "motel" shall mean establishments distinguished as 48 hotels, motels, bungalow colonies, or any other establishment comparable 49 or equivalent to any of those previously mentioned. The term shall not 50 include those places or facilities not having the general character- 51 istics of a hotel or motel as that term is generally understood and the 52 commissioner of health shall have the power to except from this article 53 and the sanitary code a place or facility that is not within the intent 54 of this definition of a motel or hotel. The term shall not include 55 small family owned and operated hotels, motels or bed and breakfasts.A. 641 3 1 (b) "Employee" shall mean any person employed for hire including sub- 2 contractors who works twenty hours or more per week. 3 § 2. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall 4 have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or 5 repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of 6 this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and completed 7 on or before such effective date.
