As we enter the New Year, New York employers should take note of new compliance obligations signed into law as 2025 came to a close.
On Dec. 5, 2025, Governor Kathy Hochul signed Senate Bill S3398 into law to amend the New York State Human Rights Law (HRL). This amendment was designed to address a statutory gap in the HRL because that law was silent on whether requesting a reasonable accommodation constitutes a protected activity for purposes of retaliation claims.
The HRL requires covered employers to provide reasonable accommodations to employees with disabilities and prohibits retaliation against employees who engage in protected activity.
Since the statute did not expressly state that requests for reasonable accommodations were protected, courts have frequently grappled with this issue and often concluded that such requests did not qualify as protected activity.
The amendment signed by the Governor aligns the HRL with the New York City Human Rights Law to expressly provide that requesting a reasonable accommodation constitutes protected activity. As a result, New York employers should more carefully consider employment decisions involving employees who request accommodations, as adverse actions based on such requests may give rise to retaliation claims under the amended HRL.
Governor Hochul...
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