Andrew Cuomo S Sexual Harassment Bill Lowered Bar For Complaints Eliminated Severe Requirement
In August 2019, Cuomo approved the Human Rights Law, which eliminated the restriction that harassment must be “severe or pervasive” to be legally actionable. The bill also made it easier for employees to file harassment complaints, and extended the statute of limitations from employment sexual harassment claims from one year to three years. Under this law, any action in the workplace that rises above “petty slights and trivial inconveniences” can qualify as harassment, and victims are no longer required to identify a history of harassment or similar examples of misconduct from a perpetrator....