New Law Establishes Hotline for Sexual Harassment Complaints in New York State

Apr 6, 2022 | Domestic Workers' Rights, GTM Blog, Labor Laws

New York State recently enacted a new law that establishes a confidential, toll-free hotline for employees to call with workplace sexual harassment complaints. Once this law goes into effect and the hotline goes live by July 14, employers – including household employers – must notify their workers of the hotline.

UPDATE: On July 19, 2022, Governor Hochul announced the new hotline’s launch. Employees in New York state may now call 800-HARASS-3 (800-427-2773) for issues relating to workplace sexual harassment. The hotline is open during regular business hours and staffed by pro bono attorneys experienced in providing counsel related to sexual harassment matters.

New York State recently enacted a new law that requires the New York State Division of Human Rights to establish a confidential, toll-free hotline for employees to call with workplace sexual harassment complaints. The new law also provides free legal assistance to individuals who contact the hotline.

Once this law goes into effect and the hotline goes live on July 14, 2022, employers – including household employers – must notify their workers of the hotline.

The new law amends the state’s existing Human Rights Law – which applies to household employers in the state – to strengthen its current protections against workplace sexual harassment. Under the amendment, the state’s human rights division must work with the New York State Department of Labor to update “any materials employers must post or provide to employees regarding sexual harassment” so they include information about the new hotline.

The amendment requires the new hotline to operate during regular business hours. It also requires the human rights division to recruit attorneys with experience in providing counsel related to sexual harassment matters to provide free legal advice to hotline callers.

Current law requires household employers to provide their workers with a written workplace sexual harassment policy and annual training on workplace sexual harassment prevention. In addition, the human rights division provides a model workplace poster on sexual harassment prevention as an optional tool for directing household employees and others to an employer’s sexual harassment prevention policy.

Household employers may expect these and other materials to need updates starting on July 14, 2022. All household employers in the state should watch for more information from the state’s human rights division and labor department.

The measure is part of the state’s ongoing effort to address workplace harassment and discrimination.

GTM can help

GTM Payroll Services can provide human resources consulting to household employers on a range of topics from work agreements to termination procedures to labor law compliance. Call (800) 929-9213 to learn more about this service and consulting rates. HR consulting is an additional service to a payroll and tax plan.