Labor & Employment

This bill provides emergency funding to keep New York state government operating during a critical budget gap from April 1-3, 2025. It allocates $279.9 million for state employee payrolls (including March 2025 back pay), $10 million for essential operational costs, and $1.1 billion for Medicaid programs. The funding ensures continuity for state services, payroll, and Medicaid payments while awaiting the regular 2025-2026 budget. It was enacted rapidly and signed into law on April 1, 2025, to prevent a government shutdown.

Relates to claims for mental injury premised upon extraordinary work-related stress incurred at work, including claims for post-traumatic stress disorder, acute stress disorder or major depressive disorder resulting from work-related stress when demonstrated that such disorder arose out of extraordinary work-related stress attributable to a distinct work-related event or events directly related to the employment and occurring during the performance of the employee's job duties; amends the effectiveness thereof.

This bill (A 2432) amends New York's warehouse worker injury reduction program to specifically target work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), affecting warehouse employers and workers performing manual materials handling. It defines MSDs broadly to include conditions caused by ergonomic risks like repetitive motions, forceful exertions, or extreme postures, and establishes "competent persons" (e.g., ergonomists or safety professionals) to conduct workplace evaluations. Employers must implement injury reduction programs including annual worksite evaluations identifying MSD risks, incorporating worker input, and making evaluation results available to workers within one business day. The law requires employers to correct identified risks promptly or provide a timeline, with mandatory board-certified ergonomist reviews if workers raise material concerns. The bill became law on February 14, 2025 (SIGNED CHAP.68).

Relates to the disclosure of automated employment decision-making tools; requires the office of information technology services to maintain an artificial intelligence inventory; provides that the use of artificial intelligence systems shall not affect the existing rights of employees pursuant to an existing collective bargaining agreement, or the existing representational relationships among employee organizations or the bargaining relationships between the employer and an employee organization.

Updates requirements for retail worker employers when developing and implementing programs to prevent workplace violence; clarifies certain provisions of the retail worker safety act.