The following is a statement from A Better Balance Co-Founder and Co-President Dina Bakst regarding the passage of NY State legislation regarding abusive attendance policies (S1958A/A8092B):
“With the signing of this legislation, Governor Hochul has taken an important step towards curtailing employers’ use of abusive attendance policies, which as we hear first hand at A Better Balance, routinely prevent workers from exercising their legal rights to care for themselves and their loved ones under New York law.
Callers to A Better Balance’s free legal helpline routinely share how abusive attendance policies penalize workers for taking their legally-protected time off and make many workers too scared to exercise their right to time off at all. With the passage of this legislation, taking a sick day or caring for a seriously ill loved one no longer means putting oneself at risk of disciplinary action or even termination for millions of New York workers.
This is a victory for the rights of workers, particularly workers of color, who are disproportionately employed in the low-wage jobs that tend to be subject to abusive attendance policies, and we thank Governor Hochul, Senator Krueger, and Assemblymember Reyes for their leadership on this issue.”
