New York Laws
Article 7 - General Provisions
203-E - Prohibition of Discrimination Based on an Employee's or Dependent's Reproductive Health Decision Making.

(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.

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