N.Y. Labor Law § 203-e: Prohibition of discrimination based on an employee's or a dependent's reproductive health decision making

§ 203-e. Prohibition of discrimination based on an employee's or a

dependent's reproductive health decision making. 1. An employer shall be

prohibited from accessing an employee's personal information regarding

the employee's or the employee's dependent's reproductive health

decision making, including but not limited to, the decision to use or

access a particular drug, device or medical service without the

employee's prior informed affirmative written consent.

2. An employer shall not:

(a) discriminate nor take any retaliatory personnel action against an

employee with respect to compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges

of employment because of or on the basis of the employee's or

dependent's reproductive health decision making, including, but not

limited to, a decision to use or access a particular drug, device or

medical service; or

(b) require an employee to sign a waiver or other document which

purports to deny an employee the right to make their own reproductive

health care decisions, including use of a particular drug, device, or

medical service.

3. An employee may bring a civil action in any court of competent

jurisdiction against an employer alleged to have violated the provisions

of this section. In any civil action alleging a violation of this

section, the court may:

(a) award damages, including, but not limited to, back pay, benefits

and reasonable attorneys' fees and costs incurred to a prevailing

plaintiff;

(b) afford injunctive relief against any employer that commits or

proposes to commit a violation of the provisions of this section;

(c) order reinstatement; and/or

(d) award liquidated damages equal to one hundred percent of the award

for damages pursuant to paragraph (a) of this subdivision unless an

employer proves a good faith basis to believe that its actions in

violation of this section were in compliance with the law.

4. Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit any rights of

an employee provided through any other provision of law, common law or

collective bargaining unit.

5. Any act of retaliation for an employee exercising any rights

granted under this section shall subject an employer to separate civil

penalties under this section. For the purposes of this section,

retaliation or retaliatory personnel action shall mean discharging,

suspending, demoting, or otherwise penalizing an employee for:

(a) making or threatening to make, a complaint to an employer,

co-worker, or to a public body, that rights guaranteed under this

section have been violated;

(b) causing to be instituted any proceeding under or related to this

section; or

(c) providing information to, or testifying before, any public body

conducting an investigation, hearing, or inquiry into any such violation

of a law, rule, or regulation by such employer.

6. An employer that provides an employee handbook to its employees

must include in the handbook notice of employee rights and remedies

under this section.

7. If any word, phrase, clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, or

part of this section or the application thereof to any person or

circumstances shall, for any reason, be adjudged by any court of

competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect,

impair, or invalidate the remainder thereof, and the application thereof

to other persons or circumstances, but shall be confined in its

operation to the word, phrase, clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision,

or part thereof directly involved in the controversy in which such

judgment shall have been rendered and to the person or circumstances

involved. It is hereby declared to be the intent of the legislature that

this section would have been enacted even if such invalid provisions had

not been included herein.