2013 New York Consolidated Laws
LAB - Labor
Article 20-C - (740 - 741) RETALIATORY ACTION BY EMPLOYERS
741 - Prohibition; health care employer who penalizes employees because of complaints of employer violations.

 
    §  741.  Prohibition;  health  care  employer  who penalizes employees
  because of complaints of employer violations. 1. Definitions. As used in
  this section, the following terms shall have the following meanings:
    (a) "Employee" means any person who performs health care services  for
  and  under  the  control and direction of any public or private employer
  which provides health care services for wages or other remuneration.
    (b) "Employer" means any partnership,  association,  corporation,  the
  state,  or  any  political  subdivision of the state which: (i) provides
  health  care  services  in  a  facility  licensed  pursuant  to  article
  twenty-eight  or  thirty-six  of  the  public  health law; (ii) provides
  health care services within a primary or  secondary  public  or  private
  school  or  public  or  private  university  setting; (iii) operates and
  provides health care services  under  the  mental  hygiene  law  or  the
  correction  law;  or (iv) is registered with the department of education
  pursuant to section sixty-eight hundred eight of the education law.
    (c)  "Agent"   means   any   individual,   partnership,   association,
  corporation, or group of persons acting on behalf of an employer.
    (d)  "Improper quality of patient care" means, with respect to patient
  care, any practice, procedure, action or failure to act of  an  employer
  which  violates  any law, rule, regulation or declaratory ruling adopted
  pursuant to law, where such  violation  relates  to  matters  which  may
  present  a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety or
  a significant threat to the health of a specific patient.
    (e) "Public body" means:
    (1) the United States Congress, any state legislature, or any  elected
  local governmental body, or any member or employee thereof;
    (2)  any  federal,  state  or  local  court, or any member or employee
  thereof, any grand or petit jury;
    (3) any federal, state or local regulatory, administrative  or  public
  agency or authority, or instrumentality thereof;
    (4)  any federal, state or local law enforcement agency, prosecutorial
  office, or police or peace officer;
    (5) any federal, state or local department of an executive  branch  of
  government; or
    (6)  any  division,  board, bureau, office, committee or commission of
  any of the public bodies described in subparagraph one, two, three, four
  or five of this paragraph.
    (f) "Retaliatory action" means the  discharge,  suspension,  demotion,
  penalization  or  discrimination  against  an employee, or other adverse
  employment action taken against an employee in the terms and  conditions
  of employment.
    (g)  "Supervisor"  means  any person within an employer's organization
  who has the authority to direct and control the work performance  of  an
  employee,  or  who has the authority to take corrective action regarding
  the violation of a law, rule or regulation to which an employee  submits
  a complaint.
    2.  Retaliatory action prohibited. Notwithstanding any other provision
  of law, no employer shall take retaliatory action against  any  employee
  because the employee does any of the following:
    (a) discloses or threatens to disclose to a supervisor, or to a public
  body  an  activity, policy or practice of the employer or agent that the
  employee,  in  good  faith,  reasonably  believes  constitutes  improper
  quality of patient care; or
    (b)  objects  to, or refuses to participate in any activity, policy or
  practice of the employer or agent that  the  employee,  in  good  faith,
  reasonably believes constitutes improper quality of patient care.
    3.  Application.  The  protection against retaliatory personnel action
  provided by subdivision two of this section shall not apply  unless  the

  employee  has  brought  the  improper  quality  of  patient  care to the
  attention of a supervisor and has afforded  the  employer  a  reasonable
  opportunity   to   correct  such  activity,  policy  or  practice.  This
  subdivision  shall not apply to an action or failure to act described in
  paragraph (a) of subdivision two of  this  section  where  the  improper
  quality of patient care described therein presents an imminent threat to
  public  health  or safety or to the health of a specific patient and the
  employee  reasonably  believes  in  good  faith  that  reporting  to   a
  supervisor would not result in corrective action.
    4.  Enforcement.  A  health care employee may seek enforcement of this
  section pursuant to paragraph (d) of subdivision four of  section  seven
  hundred forty of this article.
    5.  Relief.  In  any  court action brought pursuant to this section it
  shall be a defense that the personnel action was predicated upon grounds
  other than the employee's exercise  of  any  rights  protected  by  this
  section.