Bill Text: NY S08397 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Amended
Bill Title: Prohibits health care employers from penalizing employees because of complaints of employer violations.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 11-0)
Status: (Passed) 2020-06-17 - SIGNED CHAP.117 [S08397 Detail]
Download: New_York-2019-S08397-Amended.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 8397--A IN SENATE May 21, 2020 ___________ Introduced by Sen. SAVINO -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Labor -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee AN ACT to amend the labor law, in relation to prohibiting health care employers from penalizing employees because of complaints of employer violations The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subdivisions 1, 2 and 3 of section 741 of the labor law, as 2 added by chapter 24 of the laws of 2002, paragraph (b) of subdivision 1 3 as amended by chapter 505 of the laws of 2003, are amended to read as 4 follows: 5 1. Definitions. As used in this section, the following terms shall 6 have the following meanings: 7 (a) "Employee" means any person who performs health care services for 8 and under the control and direction of any public or private employer 9 which provides health care services for wages or other remuneration. 10 (b) "Employer" means any partnership, association, corporation, the 11 state, or any political subdivision of the state which: (i) provides 12 health care services in a facility licensed pursuant to article twenty- 13 eight or thirty-six of the public health law; (ii) provides health care 14 services within a primary or secondary public or private school or 15 public or private university setting; (iii) operates and provides health 16 care services under the mental hygiene law or the correction law; or 17 (iv) is registered with the department of education pursuant to section 18 sixty-eight hundred eight of the education law. 19 (c) "Agent" means any individual, partnership, association, corpo- 20 ration, or group of persons acting on behalf of an employer. 21 (d) "Improper quality of patient care" means, with respect to patient 22 care, any practice, procedure, action or failure to act of an employer 23 which violates any law, rule, regulation or declaratory ruling adopted 24 pursuant to law, where such violation relates to matters which may pres- 25 ent a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety or a 26 significant threat to the health of a specific patient. 27 (e) "Improper quality of workplace safety" means, with respect to 28 employees, any practice, procedure, action or failure to act of an EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD16155-02-0S. 8397--A 2 1 employer which violates any law, rule, regulation, or declaratory ruling 2 adopted pursuant to law where such violation relates to matters which 3 may present an unsafe workplace environment or risk of employee safety 4 or a significant threat to the health of a specific employee. 5 (f) "Public body" means: 6 (1) the United States Congress, any state legislature, or any elected 7 local governmental body, or any member or employee thereof; 8 (2) any federal, state or local court, or any member or employee ther- 9 eof, any grand or petit jury; 10 (3) any federal, state or local regulatory, administrative or public 11 agency or authority, or instrumentality thereof; 12 (4) any federal, state or local law enforcement agency, prosecutorial 13 office, or police or peace officer; 14 (5) any federal, state or local department of an executive branch of 15 government; or 16 (6) any division, board, bureau, office, committee or commission of 17 any of the public bodies described in subparagraph one, two, three, four 18 or five of this paragraph. 19 [(f)] (g) "Retaliatory action" means the discharge, suspension, 20 demotion, penalization or discrimination against an employee, or other 21 adverse employment action taken against an employee in the terms and 22 conditions of employment. 23 [(g)] (h) "Supervisor" means any person within an employer's organiza- 24 tion who has the authority to direct and control the work performance of 25 an employee, or who has the authority to take corrective action regard- 26 ing the violation of a law, rule or regulation to which an employee 27 submits a complaint. 28 2. Retaliatory action prohibited. Notwithstanding any other provision 29 of law, no employer shall take retaliatory action against any employee 30 because the employee does any of the following: 31 (a) discloses or threatens to disclose to a supervisor, [or] to a 32 public body, to a news media outlet, or to a social media forum avail- 33 able to the public at large, an activity, policy or practice of the 34 employer or agent that the employee, in good faith, reasonably believes 35 constitutes improper quality of patient care or improper quality of 36 workplace safety; or 37 (b) objects to, or refuses to participate in any activity, policy or 38 practice of the employer or agent that the employee, in good faith, 39 reasonably believes constitutes improper quality of patient care or 40 improper quality of workplace safety. 41 3. Application. The protection against retaliatory personnel action 42 provided by subdivision two of this section shall not apply unless the 43 employee has brought the improper quality of patient care or improper 44 quality of workplace safety to the attention of a supervisor and has 45 afforded the employer a reasonable opportunity to correct such activity, 46 policy or practice. This subdivision shall not apply to an action or 47 failure to act described in paragraph (a) of subdivision two of this 48 section where the improper quality of patient care or improper quality 49 of workplace safety described therein presents an imminent threat to 50 public health or safety or to the health of a specific patient or 51 specific health care employee and the employee reasonably believes in 52 good faith that reporting to a supervisor would not result in corrective 53 action. 54 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.