The New York City Council is currently reviewing a proposed law aimed at enhancing protections for employees seeking to report workplace misconduct. This move comes against the backdrop of existing regulations that allow workers a one-year timeframe to lodge a complaint with the New York City Commission on Human Rights concerning discrimination, harassment, or violence, and up to three years for gender-based harassment allegations. Moreover, the current legal structure permits a three-year window for initiating a lawsuit. However, the practice of employers requesting employees to sign agreements that significantly shorten these durations is under scrutiny.
The proposed bill seeks to declare any agreement that curtails these timeframes as “unenforceable and void,” addressing concerns that employees are often compelled to waive their rights and protections unwittingly. Lincoln Restler, the council member who introduced the bill, highlighted during a committee hearing on February 29, the urgency of this issue, noting that even some of the largest employers in New York, such as Northwell Health, Raymour & Flanigan, and FedEx, engage in this practice.
Restler pointed out that many employers set a six-month deadline for employees to take legal action, a period he argued is grossly inadequate for those recovering from harassment or discrimination to process their experiences, seek legal counsel, and prepare for litigation.
This legislative effort is part of a broader trend of curbing employers’ ability to impose restrictions on employees’ rights to seek justice after experiencing workplace misconduct. This includes federal-level initiatives like the bipartisan bill signed by President Joe Biden in 2022, which made mandatory arbitration agreements null and void in sexual assault or harassment cases. Furthermore, advocacy groups such as Lift Our Voices, co-founded by former Fox News hosts Gretchen Carlson and Julie Roginsky—who played a pivotal role in the advocacy for the 2022 bill—are pushing to expand these protections to cover all categories protected under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
As of now, the New York City Council committee has not made a decision on the proposed bill, leaving its future and potential impact on New York City’s workforce pending.
