-  This bill is not active in this session.
 

A05501 Summary:

BILL NOA05501
 
SAME ASSAME AS S05791
 
SPONSORCrespo
 
COSPNSROrtiz, De La Rosa, D'Urso, Pichardo, Arroyo, Blake, Reyes, Sayegh, Colton, Rosenthal D, Perry, Cruz, Ramos, Fernandez, Darling
 
MLTSPNSRDenDekker
 
Amd §215, Lab L
 
Establishes penalties for threatening, penalizing, or in any other manner discriminating or retaliating against any employee, including but not limited to contacting United States immigration authorities or otherwise threatening to report an employee's suspected citizenship or immigration status.
Go to top    

A05501 Actions:

BILL NOA05501
 
02/12/2019referred to labor
03/12/2019reported referred to codes
04/09/2019reported
04/25/2019advanced to third reading cal.196
06/17/2019substituted by s5791
 S05791 AMEND= RAMOS
 05/15/2019REFERRED TO LABOR
 05/30/20191ST REPORT CAL.1117
 06/03/20192ND REPORT CAL.
 06/04/2019ADVANCED TO THIRD READING
 06/12/2019PASSED SENATE
 06/12/2019DELIVERED TO ASSEMBLY
 06/12/2019referred to codes
 06/17/2019substituted for a5501
 06/17/2019ordered to third reading cal.196
 06/17/2019passed assembly
 06/17/2019returned to senate
 07/16/2019DELIVERED TO GOVERNOR
 07/27/2019SIGNED CHAP.126
Go to top

A05501 Committee Votes:

LABOR Chair:Crespo DATE:03/12/2019AYE/NAY:21/7 Action: Favorable refer to committee Codes
CrespoAyeBrabenecNay
AbbateAyeDiPietroAbsent
PerryAyeByrneNay
OrtizAyeMorinelloNay
ColtonAyeLawrenceNay
BenedettoAyeDeStefanoNay
HevesiAyeManktelowNay
MillerAyeSchmittNay
BronsonAye
RodriguezAye
DenDekkerAye
RozicAye
SimonAye
SteckAye
JoynerAye
BarnwellAye
RichardsonAye
RosenthalAye
CruzAye
ReyesAye
De La RosaAye

CODES Chair:Lentol DATE:04/09/2019AYE/NAY:17/5 Action: Favorable
LentolAyeRaNay
SchimmingerAyeGiglioNay
PretlowAyeMontesanoAye
CookAyeMorinelloNay
CymbrowitzAyePalumboNay
O'DonnellAyeGarbarinoNay
LavineAye
PerryAye
ZebrowskiAye
AbinantiAye
WeprinAye
MosleyAye
HevesiAye
FahyAye
SeawrightAye
RosenthalAye

Go to top

A05501 Floor Votes:

There are no votes for this bill in this legislative session.
Go to top

A05501 Memo:

NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY
MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION
submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
 
BILL NUMBER: A5501
 
SPONSOR: Crespo
  TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the labor law, in relation to penal- ties for discrimination or retaliation against immigrant employees   SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS: Section 1 of the bill amends paragraph (a) of subdivision 1 of section 215 of the Labor Law by adding a new undesignated paragraph clarifying that "to threaten, penalize, or in any other manner discriminate or retaliate against any employee" includes contacting or threatening to contact United States immigration authorities or otherwise reporting or threatening to report the suspected citizenship or immigration status of an employee or an employee's family or household member to a federal, state or local agency. Section 2 of the bill is the effective date.   JUSTIFICATION: Immigrants have long faced disproportionate levels of exploitation and abuse in the workplace. For years, studies have consistently shown that immigrants are more likely to be victims of wage theft, sexual harass- ment, misclassification and workplace safety violations than American- born citizens. In recent years with the dramatic escalation in the scope and severity of immigration enforcement, this disparity has become worse than ever, and predatory employers are newly emboldened to exploit the culture of fear the federal government has created. Worse yet, there are increasing reports that vulnerable immigrant workers are being threat- ened with deportation consequences in order to prevent their reporting unlawful or dangerous working conditions. This law seeks to amend the Labor Law to address these threats. Under current New York State Labor Law, it is a class B misdemeanor for an employer to discharge, threaten, penalize, or in any other manner discriminate or retaliate against any employee because: the employee has filed a complaint that his or her employer has violated the Labor Law; the employer believes that the employee has filed such a complaint; the employee has instituted or is about to institute a proceeding under the Labor Law; the employee has provided information to the Department of Labor or the Office of the Attorney General; the employee has testified or is about to testify in an investigation or proceeding under the Labor Law; the employee has otherwise exercised his or her rights under the Labor Law; or the employer has received an adverse determination from the Department of Labor involving the employee. The Office of the Attorney General (OAG), which proposed this legis- lation, has investigated cases and received reliable reports from worker organizations, employment lawyers, and advocacy groups of employers threatening to report immigrant workers or workers' family members to immigration officials in order to discourage employees from exercising rights protected under the Labor Law. In a recent investigation under- taken by the OAG, an employer refused to pay employees for weeks of work, and threatened to report the employees to immigration authorities when they requested the pay they were owed. In another case litigated and favorably resolved by the OAG, an employer retaliated against work- ers for refusing to sign a document, in which they would have waived their rights as employees, by telling them that the employer planned to meet with a U.S. Marshal who would deport them. These types of threats have become increasingly common and deter workers and not just those directly threatened - from reporting violations or cooperating with labor law investigations. This harms the workers, law enforcement agencies like OAG, and employers who follow the law by allowing unscrupulous employers to exploit workers without penalty. This legislation would codify federal case law interpreting the anti-re- taliation provisions of New York's Labor Law and the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) as prohibiting threats to contact immigration authorities about an employee or an employee's family member. Multiple courts within the Second Circuit have held that threats to contact immi- gration authorities are sufficient to "dissuade a reasonable employee" from making complaints or participating in investigations or litigation against their employer, and thus violative of New York Labor Law and the FLSA.(1) Citations: (1) See Centeno-Bernuy v. Perry, 302 F. Supp. 2d 128, 136 (W.D.N.Y. Dec. 18, 2003) (finding that plaintiffs established a prima facie case of retaliation under the FLSA where a former employer reported them to immigration authorities after learning of their FLSA action); see also Perez v. Jasper Trading, Inc., 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 92375, at *6-7 (E.D.N.Y. Nov. 17, 2007) (finding a prima facie case of retaliation under New York Labor Law Sec. 215 where "(i)n response to the plain- tiffs' requests, and for the purpose of discouraging the plaintiffs from pursuing their rights, the defendants threatened to contact governmental and immigration authorities if the plaintiffs continued to demand just compensation."); see also Liu v. Elegance Rest. Furniture Corp., 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 160110, at *14 (E.D.N.Y. Sept. 25, 2017) (denying summary judgement to employer on FLSA retaliation claim because "(the employer) suggested on multiple occasions that (the employee's) immi- gration status was imperiled by this lawsuit, a reasonable worker in (the employee's) shoes may have been dissuaded from bringing this action.").   PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: New bill.   FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: None.   EFFECTIVE DATE: This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rule or regulations necessary for the implementation of this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and completed on or before such date.
Go to top

A05501 Text:



 
                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                          5501
 
                               2019-2020 Regular Sessions
 
                   IN ASSEMBLY
 
                                    February 12, 2019
                                       ___________
 
        Introduced  by  M. of A. CRESPO -- (at request of the Department of Law)
          -- read once and referred to the Committee on Labor
 
        AN ACT to amend the labor law, in relation to  penalties  for  discrimi-
          nation or retaliation against immigrant employees
 
          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
 
     1    Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 1 of section 215 of the  labor
     2  law  is  amended  by  adding  a  new  undesignated  paragraph to read as
     3  follows:
     4    As used in this section, to threaten, penalize, or in any other manner
     5  discriminate or retaliate against any employee includes  threatening  to
     6  contact or contacting United States immigration authorities or otherwise
     7  reporting  or  threatening to report an employee's suspected citizenship
     8  or immigration status or the suspected citizenship or immigration status
     9  of an employee's family or household member, as defined  in  subdivision
    10  two  of section four hundred fifty-nine-a of the social services law, to
    11  a federal, state or local agency.
    12    § 2. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day  after  it  shall
    13  have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or
    14  repeal  of  any  rule  or regulation necessary for the implementation of
    15  this act on its effective date are authorized to be made  and  completed
    16  on or before such date.
 
 
 
 
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD07498-01-9
Go to top

A05501 LFIN:

 NO LFIN
Go to top

A05501 Chamber Video/Transcript:

5-1-19Video (@ 00:09:47)Transcript pdf Transcript html
6-17-19Video (@ 04:47:39)Transcript pdf Transcript html
Go to top