Bill Text: NY S01997 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Amended

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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 4-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2024-04-18 - PRINT NUMBER 1997A [S01997 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-S01997-Amended.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                         1997--A

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                    IN SENATE

                                    January 18, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  Sens.  MAY,  GONZALEZ,  JACKSON, RAMOS -- read twice and
          ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee  on
          Labor  --  recommitted  to  the  Committee on Labor in accordance with
          Senate Rule 6, sec. 8 -- committee discharged, bill  amended,  ordered
          reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee

        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.

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD00513-06-4
        S. 1997--A                          2

     1    2.  An employer shall be required to provide  suitable  seats  to  all
     2  employees  where  the  nature of such employees' work reasonably permits
     3  seated work.
     4    3.  An  employer  shall  be  prohibited from designing a work space to
     5  require standing where such work space could reasonably be  designed  to
     6  permit seated work.
     7    4.  Where  the nature of an employee's work does not reasonably permit
     8  seated work, the employer shall provide anti-fatigue mats or other ergo-
     9  nomics controls that are conducive to the particular work environment.
    10    5. The department shall promulgate rules and/or regulations for deter-
    11  mining whether the nature of an employee's work reasonably permits seat-
    12  ed work under subdivisions two and four of this section,  based  on  the
    13  totality  of  the  circumstances  for  each employee, including, but not
    14  limited to, whether:
    15    (a) an employee's tasks can be performed from a chair;
    16    (b) seating an employee would interfere with job performance; and
    17    (c) the physical layout of a work space is conducive to seating.
    18    6.  The department shall create signage and educational materials  for
    19  the  purpose  of informing employees of their rights under this section.
    20  Such signage and educational materials shall be made  available  on  the
    21  department's  website,  and  upon request by an employer or employee, in
    22  the twelve most common languages spoken in the state, as  determined  by
    23  the  department.  The  department  shall  require employers to post such
    24  signage conspicuously, and  shall  require  employers  to  provide  such
    25  educational materials to employees upon hiring of such employees.
    26    7.  (a)  The  department shall establish an online form on its website
    27  with which an employee subject to this section shall have the ability to
    28  file a complaint with the  department  regarding  a  violation  of  this
    29  section by an employer. Any such complaints shall be investigated by the
    30  department,  and if a violation of this section is found, the department
    31  shall issue a notice of such violation to the employer within forty-five
    32  days of receipt of the original complaint by the department.
    33    (b) If an employer fails to comply with a notice of a violation issued
    34  by the department pursuant to paragraph (a) of this  subdivision  within
    35  forty-five  days  of receipt of such notice, the department shall impose
    36  against such employer a fine of not less than one  hundred  dollars  for
    37  each  day  until  such  violation  is  cured. All funds collected by the
    38  department from fines imposed under this paragraph  shall  be  used  for
    39  enforcement  of  this section, and any remaining funds shall be directed
    40  to the New York state occupational safety and  health  hazard  abatement
    41  board established pursuant to section twenty-seven-a of this chapter for
    42  use by such board.
    43    8. In addition to the provisions of subdivision seven of this section,
    44  an employee shall have a private right of action for damages against any
    45  employer  who  fails  to  provide  suitable  seating to such employee in
    46  violation of subdivision two of this section.
    47    9. There shall be a rebuttable presumption of unlawful retaliation  if
    48  an  employer  in  any  manner  discriminates,  retaliates,  or takes any
    49  adverse action against an employee within ninety days of  such  employee
    50  initiating a complaint pursuant to this section.
    51    §  3. This act shall take effect one year after it shall have become a
    52  law.