Labor & Employment (Employment Discrimination)

This bill asks the Governor of New York to officially designate August 6, 2026, as Mother's Equal Pay Day. The legislation highlights the wage gap between mothers and fathers, noting that mothers typically earn significantly less for full-time work. While the bill does not change laws or create new programs, it encourages businesses to conduct internal pay evaluations to ensure fair compensation for women. The resolution serves as a formal acknowledgment of the economic disparity faced by mothers and their contributions to the workforce.

Requires employers to annually report to the division of human rights the number of settlements with employees and other individuals performing services in the workplace regarding claims of discrimination on the basis of sex, including verbal and physical sexual harassment; requires the division of human rights to provide an annual report to the governor and the legislature; makes conforming technical changes.

This bill prohibits state-chartered banks from lending money to landlords who have a history of specific bad faith actions, such as granting rent abatements due to code violations or engaging in harassment and fraud. To comply, banks must require landlords to certify that they do not have these violations or, if they do, prove that the loan will be used exclusively to fix immediate safety hazards. The legislation includes penalties of up to $50,000 for landlords who provide false information to secure financing under this rule. Once the state financial services department creates necessary regulations, the law will apply to all new, renewed, or modified loan contracts.

This bill expands New York State anti-discrimination laws to include height and weight as protected characteristics. It directly affects employers, housing providers, public accommodation operators, and employment agencies by prohibiting them from discriminating against individuals based on these traits in hiring, housing, and access to services. The legislation also bans harassment related to height or weight and restricts the use of job advertisements that limit opportunities based on these physical attributes, with limited exceptions for bona fide occupational qualifications and federal requirements.

Relates to requiring employers to obtain an acknowledgement of receipt from employees of their sexual harassment prevention policy and sexual harassment prevention training program in writing in English and in employees' primary languages; requires employers to obtain acknowledgements from employees and keep such acknowledgements for six years.

Establishes the committee for diversity, inclusion, and equal opportunity, the office of diversity management, and the state workforce diversity and inclusions council to ensure diversity and inclusion at certain state entities and combat harassment and discrimination in the workplace.

Provides that certain communications made without malice regarding an incident of sexual assault, harassment or discrimination shall be deemed privileged; provides that a prevailing defendant in an action brought against such defendant for making a communication that is privileged shall be entitled to attorney's fees and costs for such defense.

Preserves the right to unemployment benefits for a voluntary separation due to unsafe or unhealthy working conditions if the employer has caused, maintained, or refused or failed to cure an unsafe or unhealthy working condition including, but not limited to, exposure to physical, chemical or biological hazards, harassment or violence by their employer, other employees or members of the public, or other deleterious condition that makes the work environment unreasonably dangerous or unsafe for the claimant.

Enacts into law major components of legislation necessary to implement the state education, labor, housing and family assistance budget for the 2026-2027 state fiscal year; relates to contracts for excellence, foundation aid, the homeless and foster count, renewable energy projects, zero-emissions school buses and to apportioning aid for universal prekindergarten; relates to reimbursement for the 2026-2027 school year and the maximum contract hours, withholding a portion of employment preparation education aid, and the effectiveness thereof; relates to the use of apportionments for the EXCEL program and the effectiveness thereof; relates to maximum class sizes for special classes for certain students with disabilities; provides for special apportionment for salary expenses; provides for special apportionment for public pension accruals; amends provisions relating to the apportionment amount for the Roosevelt union free school district; provides for set-asides from the state funds which certain districts are receiving from the total foundation aid; provides for support of public libraries; repeals certain provisions relating to the statewide universal full-day prekindergarten program (Part A); relates to evidence-based instructional practices in the subject of mathematics for students in kindergarten through grade five (Part B); relates to the eligibility of students enrolled in an approved program leading to a degree in a high demand field for the New York opportunity promise scholarship (Part C); allows for the chancellor of SUNY and CUNY to impose differential tuition rates on non-resident undergraduate and graduate students until the 2028-2029 academic year (Part E); relates to early childhood educator eligibility for the masters-in-education teacher incentive scholarship program (Part F); changes the name of the "New York state musical instrument revolving fund" to the "New York state music grant fund"; includes musical education in school districts and boards of cooperative educational services within not-for-profit musical entities incorporated in the state and organized for the purpose of the presentation of performing arts for the benefit of the public (Part G); extends provisions of law relating to restructuring financing for residential school placements (Part K); increases the standards of monthly need for aged, blind and disabled persons living in the community (Part L); utilizes reserves in the mortgage insurance fund for the neighborhood preservation program, the rural preservation program, the rural rental assistance program, and the New York state supportive housing program, the solutions to end homelessness program or the operational support for AIDS housing program (Part M); increases the number of land banks which can simultaneously exist in the state of New York from 35 to 45 (Part N); authorizes a tax abatement for alterations and improvements to multiple dwellings for purposes of preserving habitability in affordable housing (Part O); relates to establishing the crime of aggravated harassment of a rent regulated tenant (Part P); renumbers the disparate impact standard for housing and employment in the human rights law (Part Q); defines eligible multiple dwelling under the affordable New York housing program; includes a multiple dwelling that is located on a parcel of land which was part of a tract of land for which a special permit for a large scale general development was approved via the uniform land use review procedure on or before June 15, 2022, and such tract contains a multiple dwelling for which the commencement date is after December 31, 2015 and on or before June 15, 2022 and complies with certain affordability options (Part R).

This bill increases penalties for employers who discriminate against employees under New York's workers' compensation law. It sets penalties at three times the employee's total compensation (wages and benefits from the previous year), with half paid directly to the affected employee and half to the state treasury. Employers - not their insurance carriers - are personally liable for these penalties, and any insurance clause attempting to exempt them is void. Employees must file discrimination complaints within two years of the incident. The law takes effect 90 days after enactment.