As New York’s new gender equity laws go into effect, A Better Balance releases updated Working Woman’s Pocket Guide
NEW YORK (October 7) – A a set of groundbreaking new gender equity laws begins to go into effect this week in New York—with measures that will advance equal pay, prevent workplace harassment and discrimination, support pumping at work, and more.
As these updates go into effect, A Better Balance has released an updated Working Woman’s Pocket Guide, a know-your-rights resource for women across the state.
Written by A Better Balance’s team of women’s rights and civil rights lawyers, The Working Woman’s Pocket Guide offers a step-by-step guide to the employment rights and protections New York women have at work and when they may need time away from work. With sections on pay equity, harassment, discrimination, paid family leave, healthcare coverage, and more, the guide is an A-Z resource for working women.
A Better Balance led the multi-year campaign to pass the groundbreaking new protections for nursing workers as well as the equal pay measures, including a law requiring equal pay for all protected classes and for substantially similar work, effective October 8, and a salary history ban, effective on January 6, 2020. A Better Balance was also instrumental in passing a law going into effect on October 11 that eliminates the “severe or pervasive” standard in harassment claims, which set an impossibly high bar for victims of harassment to meet in court.
“In an era when women’s rights are under attack more than ever, we believe that knowledge is power,” says A Better Balance Co-Founder and Co-President Dina Bakst. “New York’s new policies will go a long way toward advancing gender equality in the workplace and in the household, but in order for these laws to be meaningful, women must be empowered to exercise their rights, and that starts with knowing what they are.”
The Working Women’s Pocket Guide outlines the workplace rights that all women in New York should be aware of, broken down by category, here: https://www.abetterbalance.org/new-york-working-womans-pocket-guide/.
Have questions about these rights? Call A Better Balance’s free, confidential legal helpline at 1-833-NEED-ABB.
ABOUT A BETTER BALANCE: A Better Balance is a national legal advocacy organization dedicated to promoting fairness in the workplace and has been a leader at the national, state, and local level in advancing the rights of working women and families.
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