On January 2, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reinstated the New York Reproductive Health Bias Law’s requirement that New York State employers include a notice in their employee handbooks regarding the law’s prohibition on discrimination and retaliation based on employees’ reproductive health care choices.

Quick Hits

• The Second Circuit has revived a requirement that New York employers include in employee handbooks a notice informing employees of their right to be free from discrimination or retaliation based on their [the employees’] or their dependents’ reproductive health decisions.
• The ruling also revived a First Amendment challenge by religious organizations to New York’s Reproductive Health Bias Law (New York Labor Law Section 203-e), impacting how employers may address expressive association claims in the employment context.

In CompassCare v. Hochul, three religious groups—CompassCare, the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates (NIFLA), and First Bible Baptist Church—challenged the constitutionality of New York Labor Law Section 203-e, which went into effect in November 2019.

The law prohibits employers from accessing personal information regarding employees’ or their dependents’ reproductive health decision making without the employees’ “prior informed affirmative written consent.” The law also prohibits employers from discriminating or retaliating against employees based on their reproductive health decisions, “including, but not...

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