{"id":7569,"date":"2020-01-06T11:00:33","date_gmt":"2020-01-06T16:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/?p=7569"},"modified":"2024-08-30T11:10:20","modified_gmt":"2024-08-30T15:10:20","slug":"employee-handbook-update-for-new-york-employers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/employee-handbook-update-for-new-york-employers\/","title":{"rendered":"This is the Required Employee Handbook Update for New York Employers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7572\" src=\"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-content\/uploads\/batch-books-document-education-357514.jpg\" alt=\"employee handbook update for new york employers\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-content\/uploads\/batch-books-document-education-357514.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-content\/uploads\/batch-books-document-education-357514-980x654.jpg 980w, https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-content\/uploads\/batch-books-document-education-357514-480x320.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 980px) 980px, (min-width: 981px) 1024px, 100vw\" \/>In November of 2019, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.seyfarth.com\/news-insights\/new-york-state-prohibits-discrimination-based-on-reproductive-health-decision-making.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Governor Cuomo signed a bill<\/a> that prevents employers from discriminating based on an employee\u2019s or a dependent\u2019s reproductive health decision making. There is now a required employee handbook update for New York employers regarding this bill. The handbook update must be implemented <strong>by Jan. 7, 2020.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The law does not require employers to have handbooks. However, any employer that does have one must ensure that it contains a notice regarding the new provision that was added to the state\u2019s Labor Law in November 2019. Under that provision, all employers in the state are prohibited from (and may be sued for):<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Accessing personal information about employees\u2019 (or their dependents\u2019) reproductive health decisions without prior written consent;<\/li>\n<li>Discriminating or retaliating against an employee based on reproductive health decisions; and<\/li>\n<li>Requiring employees to waive any rights to make their own reproductive health decisions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The law does not specify how the notice must be written. However, it does indicate that the notice must include information about both rights and remedies. Among other remedies, the law allows courts to award damages\u2014including back pay, benefits, and reasonable attorneys\u2019 fees and costs\u2014plus double that amount as punitive damages against noncompliant employers.<\/p>\n<p>Employers should ensure that their handbooks and other policies are updated accordingly. GTM can help &#8211; we&#8217;ll work with you to create an employee handbook that is compliant with state and federal laws. Our depth of knowledge in workplace policies and best practices ensures that the employees\u2019 and employers\u2019 needs are taken into account and will give the employer peace of mind. <a href=\"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/get-a-quote\/\">Request a free quote today<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>\u00a92020 Zywave, Inc. All rights reserved.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This required employee handbook update for New York Employers must be implemented by Jan. 7, 2020.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[266],"tags":[79,107,6],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-7569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-consulting-services","tag-compliance","tag-employee-handbook","tag-new-york-employers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7569"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7569\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7576,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7569\/revisions\/7576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7569"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=7569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}