Bill Text: NY S01860 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced


Bill Title: Directs the commissioner of labor to create and distribute to employers written materials regarding mental health services and resources available to employees to be posted in the workplace; directs voluntary guidance for employers to put in place strategies and programs to support the mental health and wellness of their employees; provides that such guidance be in written and digital resources and in English or translated to an additional primary language or languages as applicable.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-0)

Status: (Engrossed) 2024-05-14 - referred to labor [S01860 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-S01860-Introduced.html



                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          1860

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                    IN SENATE

                                    January 17, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by Sens. BROUK, RAMOS -- read twice and ordered printed, and
          when printed to be committed to the Committee on Labor

        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 a new section 201-i to
     2  read as follows:
     3    § 201-i. Workplace mental health awareness and resources.  1.  Posting
     4  of information regarding mental health awareness and resources.
     5    a.  The  commissioner,  in  consultation  with the commissioner of the
     6  office of mental health, and the division of human rights, shall  create
     7  and  distribute  written  materials regarding mental health services and
     8  resources available to employees. Such materials shall include at  mini-
     9  mum,  signs  and symptoms of mental health concerns, hotlines, websites,
    10  or other resources maintained by local, state or national  organizations
    11  offering  mental  health  services,  and resources for information about
    12  federal, state, and local anti-discrimination laws  for  employees  with
    13  mental  health  related  disabilities.   Such written materials shall be
    14  translated into at least the twelve most  common  non-English  languages
    15  spoken  by  individuals  with  limited-English proficiency in the state,
    16  based on the data in the most recent American Community Survey published
    17  by the United States Census Bureau.
    18    b. Every employer in the state shall post such materials  in  a  place
    19  accessible to his or her employees and in a visually conspicuous manner.
    20  Where a significant number of employees have identified as their primary
    21  language  a  language  for which such written materials have been trans-
    22  lated by the department, such written materials shall be posted in  both
    23  English and such additional primary language or languages as applicable.
    24    2.  Voluntary  guidance for addressing mental health in the workplace.
    25  The commissioner, in consultation with the commissioner of the office of
    26  mental health and the division of human rights, shall  establish  volun-

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD04549-01-3

        S. 1860                             2

     1  tary  guidance  for employers to address mental health in the workplace.
     2  Such guidance shall  contain,  at  minimum,  strategies  and  tools  for
     3  employers  to  reduce  mental  health  stigma in the workplace, increase
     4  awareness  of the signs and symptoms of mental health concerns, create a
     5  workplace environment inclusive of mental health  related  disabilities,
     6  and  promote  mental  health wellness and stress management in the work-
     7  place.  Such guidance shall provide both guidelines  for  best  employer
     8  practices  as well as written and digital resources for employers to use
     9  in the workplace at their option.
    10    § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
    11  it shall have become a law.
feedback