Bill Text: NY A05299 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Amended

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Bill Title: Directs the commissioner of labor to create and distribute to employers a poster, pamphlet, or other written materials regarding mental health and wellness of employees to be posted in the workplace; directs voluntary guidelines for employers to put in place strategies and programs to support the mental health and wellness of their employees.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-04-09 - reported referred to codes [A05299 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-A05299-Amended.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                         5299--A

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                      March 7, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by M. of A. GUNTHER -- read once and referred to the Commit-
          tee on Labor -- recommitted to the Committee on  Labor  in  accordance
          with  Assembly  Rule  3, sec. 2 -- committee discharged, bill amended,
          ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee

        AN ACT to amend the labor law, in relation to workplace mental health

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section  1.  The labor law is amended by adding two new sections 218-c
     2  and 218-d to read as follows:
     3    § 218-c. Posting of information regarding mental health awareness  and
     4  resources.  The  commissioner,  in consultation with the commissioner of
     5  the office of mental health, shall create and distribute to employers in
     6  this state a poster, pamphlet,  or  other  written  materials  regarding
     7  mental  health  and  wellness  of  employees.  Such  materials  shall be
     8  designed to eliminate stigma and misinformation  about  mental  illness,
     9  improve  employers' and employees' understanding of mental disorders and
    10  the existence of effective treatment, and provide information  regarding
    11  available  resources  and  how to access them, including but not limited
    12  to, the 9-8-8 suicide prevention and behavioral  health  crisis  hotline
    13  and  other  state  or  federal  hotlines,  websites maintained by local,
    14  state, or national organizations offering mental  health  services,  and
    15  the  rights  of  workers  with  psychiatric disabilities pursuant to the
    16  Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Every employer  shall  post  such
    17  poster,  pamphlets, or other written materials in such employer's estab-
    18  lishment or place of business, in a  place  accessible  to  his  or  her
    19  employees and in a visually conspicuous manner.
    20    §  218-d.  Workplace mental health.  The commissioner, in consultation
    21  with the commissioner of the office of mental health, shall establish  a
    22  voluntary  framework  and  standards for addressing mental health in the
    23  workplace to reduce mental health stigma, increase public, employee, and
    24  employer awareness of mental health issues,  and  provide  guidance  for

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD04549-03-4
        A. 5299--A                          2

     1  employers  on  strategies  and programs to support the mental health and
     2  wellness of their employees. Such strategies and programs  may  include,
     3  but  not  be  limited to, an employer sponsored website or online portal
     4  for  resources and guidelines included in an employee handbook, posters,
     5  written/digital resources for workplace mental  health,  and  guidelines
     6  regarding best practices for businesses.
     7    § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
     8  it shall have become a law.