Governor Cuomo signed into law several pieces of legislation that change the legal standards governing sexual harassment and other discrimination claims under New York State law, bringing those standards more in line with New York City law than federal law, and expand restrictions that previously applied to mandatory arbitration and non-disclosure agreements in the context of sexual harassment claims, making them now applicable to all claims of workplace discrimination or harassment. The new laws also enact a state-wide ban on salary history inquiries in connection with employment similar to the ban that applies in New York City, expand the scope of the State’s Equal Pay Act, and prohibit race discrimination based on natural hair or hairstyles. Our memorandum on the new laws is available
here and a previous blog post on the salary history ban is available
here.