New Law Protects Domestic Violence Victims From Eviction

Governor Cuomo signed Assembly Bill A2665A, which prevents landlords from evicting tenants facing domestic violence or other crimes as a result of a nuisance violation. Landlords may now begin eviction proceedings against perpetrators of violence while the victim of domestic violence remains at his/her residence. 

The stated purpose of the law: 

“[n]o victim of domestic violence, or other person threatened with violence or in jeopardy of harm, should fail to access police or emergency assistance when needed because of the fear that doing so may result in losing their housing through eviction or other actions to remove them from the property.” 

Prior to the new law, landlords could evict victims of domestic violence for creating a "nuisance."

Now, victims can no longer be penalized for violating laws regulating nuisances unless the conduct is rooted in breaches of the lease, illicit activities, or other violations of the law. In short, multiple calls to the police for help no longer serve as grounds to evict a tenant.

Closed Captioning On TVs In Public Accommodations Must Now Be Provided Upon Request

Televisions in an area of public accommodation that have a closed captioning feature must be enabled upon request. However, business owners will not be penalized if the television does not have a closed captioning feature.

The specific law S1650 signed by Governor Cuomo states:

“A place of public accommodation, resort or amusement. . . shall upon request be required to have closed captioning enabled on all televisions that are located in the public area . . . during regular business hours.”

Owners/Managers of public accommodations should train staff on this new requirement to avoid potential exposure to costly lawsuits.

Eye on Real Estate - 9/7/19

If you missed Eye on Real Estate this weekend you can listen to the Podcast. Topics include - how to evaluate your insurance coverage and questions to ask to make sure your assets are protected in the event of a storm, understanding what happens when you list property without a broker and more general real estate tips.

Listen Here to the Podcast

Deadline = 1 Month: Sexual Harassment Prevention Training

Attention all employers / HR managers - you have 1 month left to complete your sexual harassment prevention training of all employees as required by Labor Law 201-g.

Failure to train = misdemeanor and exposure to lots of fines by the DOL.

Get your employees trained at sexualharassmenttrainingny.com

How to Know if Your Lawyer is Terrible

Just because someone passed the bar exam and is licensed by the state doesn’t mean that person is good at their job. Here are five ways to know if your lawyer is simply terrible, which you can tell even if you aren’t a lawyer with the know-how to evaluate legal work.

Read the full article by Andrew Lieb, Esq in Dan's Papers here. 

Eye on Real Estate Podcasts - 8/31/19

For those of you who missed Eye on Real Estate this weekend - Podcasts are now available.

Topics discussed include the legality of renting out rooms in multiple family dwellings, what happens when you can't get in touch with your broker and more.

Hour 1

Hour 2

Status as a Victim of Domestic Violence is Now a Protected Class in New York State

Attention Employers in New York State: Governor Cuomo signed bill S1040 into law extending protections against discrimination in the workplace to victims of domestic violence.

The new law prohibits an employer from hiring or firing an employee or otherwise discriminating against an employee in compensation, terms, conditions or privileges of employment because of such employee's status as a victim of domestic violence. The law also requires employers to provide a reasonable accommodations to an employee who is known by the employer to be a victim of domestic violence, unless providing an accommodation would cause an "undue hardship" to the employer.

Reasonable accommodations for victims of domestic violence are limited to: seeking medical attention; obtaining services from a domestic violence shelter, program or rape crisis center; obtaining psychological counseling or legal services; and, taking safety measures to increase protections against future incidents of domestic violence (e.g. relocation). Time off as a result of such accommodation may be charged against the employee's paid time-off (per law and/or employer's policy). If paid time off is unavailable, an employer may treat such absence as leave without pay.

Employers should immediately update their handbooks, policies, and discrimination prevention trainings to comply with this new law.

One Year Window for All Victims of Child Sexual Abuse to File a Lawsuit is Open

Attention Victims of Child Sexual Abuse: You have an opportunity for the next year to seek damages for physical and emotional injuries regardless how long ago the abuse took place.

The Child Victims Act, which went into effect this week, allows any victims of child sexual abuse in New York State to file a civil lawsuit against their abuser or a negligent institution within the next year.

Following the one year period, any victim can file a lawsuit against their abuser or a negligent institution until their 55th birthday (the age limitation was previously 23 years old).

The rationale behind the law is that victims of child sex abuse should not be penalized for not timely disclosing what occurred because of shame or fear.

Have you been the victim of employment discrimination?

Attention Employees - Have you faced inferior terms, conditions or privileges of employment because of your age, race, creed, color, national original, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, military status, sex, disability, predisposing genetic characteristics, familial status, marital status, domestic violence victim status, or because you have opposed discrimination at work?

Did you know that you only need to prove that this discrimination rises above what a reasonable victim of discrimination with the same protected characteristic would consider petty slights or trivial inconveniences to win your claim?

Did you know that you can recover lost wages?
Are you aware that you can be reinstated into your job?
Better yet, did you know that your employer could be required to pay you punitive damages (punishment)?

Guess what? Courts have been directed to award you reasonable attorney's fees if you win. This means that your employer's exposure goes up the entire time that they are defending the claim - it's a huge motivation for your employer to settle with you quickly.

Yesterday, 8/12/19, you were given a voice by the Governor - it's time for you to use that voice and speak up to end discrimination in the workplace.

Alert: CT Reduces Threshold for Mandatory Sexual Harassment Training

Effective October 1, 2019, Employers in Connecticut have new sexual harassment prevention obligations.

By way of Public Act No. 19-16, which amends General Statutes 46a-54(1)(15), now employers, with three or more employees, must:

• Within three months of start date, provide information concerning illegality of sexual harassment and remedies available by email or posting;
• Provide two hours of training and education between October 1, 2019 and 2020; and
• Provide such training to new hires within six months of start date.

Then, employers must provide periodic supplementain traings and updates not less than every ten years. 

The new training requirement is for all employees rather than just supervisors employees, as previously required, and it's applicable to employers with three or more employees rather than the previous fifty employee requirement.

 

Alert: Cuomo Makes it Easier for Workplace Sexual Harassment Claims

Attention Employers and HR!!!!

Cuomo signs sexual harassment law- as we first reported on June 19, 2019, A08421 passed both houses and now Cuomo has made it the law of the State of New York.

The legislation does the following:

• Changes the severe or pervasive standard of harassment to a very low standard of more than petty slights or trivial inconveniences;
• Eliminates part of the Faragher/Ellerth affirmative defense to a lawsuit by making the fact that the employee did not make a complaint about the harassment to the employer not determinative as to liability;
• Extends protection for non-employees in the workplace to all protected classes;
• Allows courts to award attorney's fees on all claims of employment discrimination, and allow for punitive damages in employment discrimination cases against private employers;
• Provide that the Human Rights Law is to be construed liberally for remedial purposes, regardless of how federal laws have been construed;
• Prohibit mandatory arbitration clauses for discrimination claims;
• Prohibit non-disclosure agreements in any settlement for a claim of discrimination, unless it's the complainant's preference;
• Provide that any term or condition in a non-disclosure agreement is void if it prohibits the complainant from initiating or participating in an agency investigation or disclosing facts necessary to receive public benefits;
• Require that employees be notified that non-disclosure agreements in employment contracts cannot prevent them from talking to the police, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the State Division of Human Rights or a similar local entity, or a lawyer;
• Extend the authority of the Attorney General to prosecute certain civil and criminal cases of discrimination against all protected classes;
• Require the Department of Labor and the Division of Human Rights to evaluate the impact of the model sexual harassment prevention policy every four years and update the policy as needed;
• Require any term or condition in a non-disclosure agreement be provided in writing to all parties, in plain English and the primary language of the complainant;
• Require the commissioner of the Labor Department to prepare templates of the model policy in languages other than English;
• Require every employer to provide employees with their sexual harassment policy in English or their primary language when they are hired and during training; and
• Extend the statute of limitations to file a sexual harassment complaint with the Division of Human Rights from one year to three years.

Visit discriminationpreventiontraining.com to keep your company safe from discrimination claims while maintaining a safe workplace for all.

Deadline looms in sexual harassment prevention training

October 9th, 2019 is the deadline for all employees to complete the sexual harassment prevention training. Newsday recently interviewed Andrew Lieb, Esq. of Lieb Compliance discussing the requirements and solution.

Click here to read the full article. 

Legally Speaking: The End of Prepaid Seasonal Rentals Revisited

When you shoot the messenger, don’t miss.

One month ago, the Legally Speaking column “The End of Prepaid Seasonal Rentals” hit, and real estate brokers have been reaching out ever since. The article explained that the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019 prohibits prepaid seasonal rentals and requires that tenants be billed monthly for rent. After reading the headline, brokers instantly jumped on it. They questioned the veracity of the story, the applicability of the law and everything in between. Now I respond while detailing five false assertions made in response to the article.

Read the full article by Andrew Lieb, Esq. published in Dan's Papers here. 

NYS Prohibits Discrimination Against Religious Attire and Facial Hair

Today, August, 9, 2019, Governor Cuomo signed A4204 into law.

As a result, on October 8, 2019 new amended Executive law 296(10)(a) will prohibit religious discrimination in employment that concerns "the wearing of any attire, clothing, or facial hair in accordance with the requirements of his or her religion."

Attention Employers - Update your dress code now to include this express right. 

The only exception to the new protection is if an employer can demonstrate an "undue hardship" on their business resulting from such religious attire.

 

Don’t Check Your Prospective Tenant’s Eviction History

A new residential rental law exposes landlords to suit for checking their prospective tenant’s eviction history. This new law provides, at Real Property Law §227-f, that “[n]o landlord of a residential premises shall refuse to rent or offer a lease to a potential tenant on the basis that the potential tenant was involved in a past or pending landlord tenant action or summary proceeding…” In fact, the law contains a rebuttable presumption that a violation has occurred, which presumption arises when a landlord requests such “information from a tenant screening bureau… or otherwise inspect[s] court records.” Furthermore, the law expressly authorizes the attorney general to prosecute landlords for violations of the law and provides for statutory penalties to be recovered against violating landlords. Landlords—don’t check your prospective tenant’s eviction history if you don’t want to get sued by the attorney general.

Read the full article by Andrew Lieb, Esq. published in Dan's Papers here. 

Legally Speaking: The End of Prepaid Seasonal Rentals

Landlords in the Hamptons have traditionally demanded prepaid rent from tenants on seasonal rentals. If you rented your property for a three-month term, say from July to October, on lease signing, you’d traditionally demand that the tenant provide you with a check for the entire period’s rental fees together with an executed lease or you’d refuse to rent your property to that tenant for that period. So, at lease signing, a tenant would traditionally need to have enough money for the entire rental period plus an additional month’s worth of rent for the security deposit. That tradition, of receiving prepaid rent for the entirety of the rental period plus the security deposit at lease signing, was ended on June 14, 2019.

Read the full article on Dan's Papers here. 

Podcasts | Eye on Real Estate 7/13/19

If you missed Eye on Real Estate this weekend, Attorney Andrew Lieb, Esq. joins the show.

Topics include: New rental laws, final walk through & how to handle it as the buyers / sellers, #1 investment isn't multi family houses in real estate, the end of prepaid seasonal rentals.

Listen to the podcasts below:

Click here for Hour 1 

Click here for Hour 2