Your New York job can't punish you for reporting wrongdoing

If you work for a private employer in New York and report activity you reasonably believe breaks the law or poses a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety, the employer can’t fire, demote, threaten, or otherwise punish you for it. Retaliation includes threatening to call immigration authorities. The protection covers former employees and individual independent contractors, including actions meant to hurt a former employee’s next job.

Before this law, private-sector employees generally had to prove an actual violation that created a substantial and specific public danger, or conduct that constituted health care fraud. Now a reasonable belief can be enough even if it turns out to be wrong. You don’t apply for the protection. If you report to a government agency or other public body, you generally must first make a good-faith effort to alert a supervisor and give the employer a reasonable chance to fix the problem; the law lists exceptions, including imminent serious danger, likely destruction of evidence, or risk of physical harm. If punished, you have two years to sue, can ask for a jury, and can seek reinstatement, lost pay, legal fees, and, for a willful, malicious, or wanton violation, punitive damages. Employers must post notice of these rights.

Assembly Member Michael Benedetto carried versions of the bill for years. Sen. Jessica Ramos sponsored it in the Senate, where Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins helped rally support; Assembly Members Jo Anne Simon and Phil Steck also worked to build support, backed by Speaker Carl Heastie. The Senate passed it 44–19 and the Assembly 110–38. Gov. Kathy Hochul signed it October 28, 2021; it took effect January 26, 2022.