2023 New York Laws › LAB - Labor › Article 7 - General Provisions › 203-E - Prohibition of Discrimination Based on an Employee's or Dependent's Reproductive Health Decision Making.

§  203-e.  Prohibition  of  discrimination based on an employee's or a
dependent's reproductive health decision making. 1. An employer shall be
prohibited from accessing an employee's personal  information  regarding
the   employee's  or  the  employee's  dependent's  reproductive  health
decision making, including but not limited to, the decision  to  use  or
access  a  particular  drug,  device  or  medical  service  without  the
employee's prior informed affirmative written consent.
2. An employer shall not:
(a) discriminate nor take any retaliatory personnel action against  an
employee  with respect to compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges
of  employment  because  of  or  on  the  basis  of  the  employee's  or
dependent's  reproductive  health  decision  making,  including, but not
limited to, a decision to use or access a  particular  drug,  device  or
medical service; or
(b)  require  an  employee  to  sign  a waiver or other document which
purports to deny an employee the right to make  their  own  reproductive
health  care  decisions,  including use of a particular drug, device, or
medical service.
3. An employee may bring a civil action  in  any  court  of  competent
jurisdiction against an employer alleged to have violated the provisions
of  this  section.  In  any  civil  action  alleging a violation of this
section, the court may:
(a) award damages, including, but not limited to, back  pay,  benefits
and  reasonable  attorneys'  fees  and  costs  incurred  to a prevailing
plaintiff;
(b) afford injunctive relief against  any  employer  that  commits  or
proposes to commit a violation of the provisions of this section;
(c) order reinstatement; and/or
(d) award liquidated damages equal to one hundred percent of the award
for  damages  pursuant  to  paragraph  (a) of this subdivision unless an
employer proves a good faith  basis  to  believe  that  its  actions  in
violation of this section were in compliance with the law.
4.  Nothing  in this section shall be construed to limit any rights of
an employee provided through any other provision of law, common  law  or
collective bargaining unit.
5.  Any  act  of  retaliation  for  an  employee exercising any rights
granted under this section shall subject an employer to  separate  civil
penalties  under  this  section.  For  the  purposes  of  this  section,
retaliation or retaliatory  personnel  action  shall  mean  discharging,
suspending, demoting, or otherwise penalizing an employee for:
(a)  making  or  threatening  to  make,  a  complaint  to an employer,
co-worker, or to a  public  body,  that  rights  guaranteed  under  this
section have been violated;
(b)  causing  to be instituted any proceeding under or related to this
section; or
(c) providing information to, or testifying before,  any  public  body
conducting an investigation, hearing, or inquiry into any such violation
of a law, rule, or regulation by such employer.
6.  An  employer  that  provides an employee handbook to its employees
must include in the handbook notice  of  employee  rights  and  remedies
under this section.
7.  If  any word, phrase, clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, or
part of this section  or  the  application  thereof  to  any  person  or
circumstances  shall,  for  any  reason,  be  adjudged  by  any court of
competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment  shall  not  affect,
impair, or invalidate the remainder thereof, and the application thereof
to  other  persons  or  circumstances,  but  shall  be  confined  in its
operation to the word, phrase, clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision,

or part thereof directly involved  in  the  controversy  in  which  such
judgment  shall  have  been  rendered and to the person or circumstances
involved. It is hereby declared to be the intent of the legislature that
this section would have been enacted even if such invalid provisions had
not been included herein.