Bill Text: NY A04148 | 2025-2026 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Enacts the "standing is tiring (sit) act"; requires employers to provide suitable seats to all employees where the nature of such employees' work reasonably permits seated work; prohibits employers from artificially designing a work space to require standing; requires the department of labor to determine whether the nature of work reasonably permits seated work; creates a private right of action for employees whose employer does not provide seats.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2025-01-31 - referred to labor [A04148 Detail]
Download: New_York-2025-A04148-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 4148 2025-2026 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY January 31, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. REYES -- read once and referred to the Committee on Labor AN ACT to amend the labor law, in relation to enacting the "standing is tiring (sit) act" The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "standing 2 is tiring (sit) act". 3 § 2. The labor law is amended by adding a new section 203-g to read as 4 follows: 5 § 203-g. Employee right to sit. 1. For the purposes of this section, 6 the following terms shall have the following meanings: 7 (a) "Employee" means any person within a covered industry providing 8 labor or services for remuneration for a public or private entity or 9 business within the state, without regard to an individual's immigration 10 status, and shall include, but not be limited to, part-time workers, 11 independent contractors, day laborers, farmworkers and other temporary 12 and seasonal workers. The term "employee" shall also include individuals 13 working for staffing agencies, contractors, or subcontractors on behalf 14 of the employer at any individual worksite. 15 (b) "Employer" means any individual, partnership, association, corpo- 16 ration, limited liability company, business trust, legal representative, 17 public entity, or any organized group acting as employer within a 18 covered industry. 19 (c) "Covered industry" means any of the following businesses, indus- 20 tries, or types of employment, including but not limited to, in private, 21 university, or nonprofit settings: retail, restaurant, grocery, cler- 22 ical, carwash, maintenance or janitorial, and healthcare. 23 2. An employer shall be required to provide suitable seats to all 24 employees where the nature of such employees' work reasonably permits 25 seated work. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD04915-01-5A. 4148 2 1 3. An employer shall be prohibited from designing a work space to 2 require standing where such work space could reasonably be designed to 3 permit seated work. 4 4. Where the nature of an employee's work does not reasonably permit 5 seated work, the employer shall provide anti-fatigue mats or other ergo- 6 nomics controls that are conducive to the particular work environment. 7 5. The department shall promulgate rules and/or regulations for deter- 8 mining whether the nature of an employee's work reasonably permits seat- 9 ed work under subdivisions two and four of this section, based on the 10 totality of the circumstances for each employee, including, but not 11 limited to, whether: 12 (a) an employee's tasks can be performed from a chair; 13 (b) seating an employee would interfere with job performance; and 14 (c) the physical layout of a work space is conducive to seating. 15 6. The department shall create signage and educational materials for 16 the purpose of informing employees of their rights under this section. 17 Such signage and educational materials shall be made available on the 18 department's website, and upon request by an employer or employee, in 19 the twelve most common languages spoken in the state, as determined by 20 the department. The department shall require employers to post such 21 signage conspicuously, and shall require employers to provide such 22 educational materials to employees upon hiring of such employees. 23 7. (a) The department shall establish an online form on its website 24 with which an employee subject to this section shall have the ability to 25 file a complaint with the department regarding a violation of this 26 section by an employer. Any such complaints shall be investigated by the 27 department, and if a violation of this section is found, the department 28 shall issue a notice of such violation to the employer within forty-five 29 days of receipt of the original complaint by the department. 30 (b) If an employer fails to comply with a notice of a violation issued 31 by the department pursuant to paragraph (a) of this subdivision within 32 forty-five days of receipt of such notice, the department shall impose 33 against such employer a fine of not less than one hundred dollars for 34 each day until such violation is cured. All funds collected by the 35 department from fines imposed under this paragraph shall be used for 36 enforcement of this section, and any remaining funds shall be directed 37 to the New York state occupational safety and health hazard abatement 38 board established pursuant to section twenty-seven-a of this chapter for 39 use by such board. 40 8. In addition to the provisions of subdivision seven of this section, 41 an employee shall have a private right of action for damages against any 42 employer who fails to provide suitable seating to such employee in 43 violation of subdivision two of this section. 44 9. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation if 45 an employer in any manner discriminates, retaliates, or takes any 46 adverse action against an employee within ninety days of such employee 47 initiating a complaint pursuant to this section. 48 § 3. This act shall take effect one year after it shall have become a 49 law.
