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Expansion of Protection for Domestic Violence Victims
The New York State Human Rights Law was amended into law A5618/S1040 on August 20, 2019, with respect to protection for victims of domestic violence. The Amendment becomes effective on November 18, 2019. One of the amendments was pertaining to the accommodation of victims of domestic violence by the employer. The Amendment requires employers to reasonably accommodate victims of domestic violence who must be absent from work “for a reasonable amount of time” to:
An employer is required to provide reasonable accommodation for an employee’s absence unless the employer can demonstrate that the employee’s absence would constitute an undue hardship to the employer. A decision of whether the absence will cause an unnecessary hardship requires an evaluation of factors, such as the size of the employer’s business and the nature of its operation, including the composition and structure of its workforce. Employers may require employees to use any available paid time off during any leave provided as an accommodation.
The Amendment requires an employee to provide the employer with reasonable notice of the need to be absent, if reasonable. If the advance notice was not feasible, the employee must, upon employer request, provide a certification confirming the requirement for the time-off accommodation. An employee who must be absent from work who cannot feasibly give reasonable advance notice of the absence within a reasonable time after the absence, provide a certification to the employer when requested by the employer. Such certification shall be in the form of:
Where an employee has a physical or mental disability resulting from an incident or series of incidents of domestic violence, such employee shall be treated in the same manner as an employee with any other disability, pursuant to the provisions which provide that discrimination and refusal to provide reasonable accommodation of disability are unlawful discriminatory practices.
To the extent allowed by law, employers shall maintain the confidentiality of any information regarding an employee’s status as a victim of domestic violence.