This bill (A 4428) requires New York's Commissioner of Labor to create and maintain a public website with information about workers' rights under state and federal law, regardless of immigration status - including union organizing rights. It mandates that employers provide this information to all employees by August 1, 2027, in English and any language spoken by at least 5% of their workforce, posting it visibly at workplaces and making it accessible via mobile apps or online. The bill also requires outreach to immigrant workers through hotlines, legal resources, and materials at shelters and immigration centers, with penalties of $500 for non-compliance (after a warning for first offenses). It directly affects immigrant workers, employers, and state agencies like the Division of Immigrant Policies and Affairs.
Relates to providing more predictable and stable schedules for employees in low-wage occupations; provides that an employer shall pay an employee for at least 4 hours at the basic minimum hourly wage for each day an employee reports for work as instructed but is given less than four hours of work.
This bill restricts health care employers from requiring nurses or health care workers (excluding doctors, residents, and security staff) to work more than their regularly scheduled hours, except in specific emergencies or during ongoing surgical procedures. It defines "regularly scheduled work hours" to include pre-scheduled on-call time and shift report communication, and prohibits using on-call time as a substitute for mandatory overtime. Exceptions include health care disasters, official emergency declarations, unanticipated staffing emergencies, or procedures requiring continuous presence for patient safety. The law aims to protect patient care quality by limiting excessive work hours, without affecting existing rights under other laws or collective bargaining agreements.
This bill, the "Raise the Wage Act," increases New York's minimum wage to $21.25 per hour in New York City by 2028, $17.25 in the city's suburbs (Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester) by 2026, and gradually across the rest of the state. It repeals current static wage provisions and establishes automatic annual adjustments tied to inflation and productivity, mirroring the formula used for upstate wages since 2022. The bill directly affects all hourly workers covered under New York's labor law, particularly in low-wage sectors like home care and childcare. This indexing mechanism aims to prevent future erosion of purchasing power, ensuring wages keep pace with rising living costs.
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.
Relates to employee petitions to participate in a shared work program and to employer responses to such petitions; requires such petitions to be submitted to the commissioner of labor and to be made available for public access on the department of labor website.
Extends the authority and oversight of wage boards to include the consideration of minimum standards for benefits and working conditions; changes the reference to such boards as workers' boards.
S 5991, the "LEAVE Act," requires most employers to provide paid sick leave and paid leave based on company size: small businesses (4+ employees with >$1M income) must offer 40 hours paid sick leave and 40 hours paid leave annually; mid-sized (5-99 employees) get 40 hours each; large businesses (100+) get 56 hours sick leave and 40 hours paid leave. Employees accrue leave at 1 hour per 30 hours worked, with protections covering medical needs, family care, and domestic violence situations (including safety planning and legal support). The bill also mandates 20 hours of paid prenatal leave annually starting in 2025, to be taken in hourly increments at the employee’s regular pay rate. It applies to all covered employers in the state and prohibits requiring confidential health disclosures as a condition for leave.
Requires covered employers to provide notice to certain affected employees prior to any technological displacement; requires reporting; requires a workforce transition period; makes related provisions.
Enacts the "Empowering People in Rights Enforcement (EMPIRE) Worker Protection Act"; relates to the delegation of state enforcement authority to private actors; authorizes an affected employee, whistleblower, representative organization or an organizational deputy to initiate a public enforcement action on behalf of the commissioner for certain provisions of the labor law, or any regulation promulgated thereunder.
