NYC Mayor Signs Sweeping Anti-Sexual Harassment Laws

NEW YORK, NY — Mayor Bill de Blasio signed what one lawmaker called the nation's furthest-reaching anti-sexual harassment laws just days after allegations of abuse took down one of New York's top officials. The 11 bills will expand worker protections and improve transparency about harassment in city government, officials said.

"My colleagues and I are just getting started," Councilwoman Rosenthal (D-Manhattan), who chairs the Council's Committee on Women, said in a statement. "We will continue to search for ways to interrupt abuses of power, end sexual harassment, and make gender-based discrimination a thing of the past."

The City Council passed the bills, known together as the "Stop Sexual Harassment in NYC Act," last month in reaction to the #MeToo movement to pull back the curtain on sexual harassment and assault nationwide.

Two new laws require city agencies and private companies with at least 15 employees to put their workers through annual anti-harassment training.

The city's Commission on Human Rights will create an online program private employers can use to comply with the law, which is the first of its kind in the nation, according to Rosenthal's office.

Private companies will also have to display a poster created by the city explaining what sexual harassment is and how to report it to authorities.

The legislation also extends the sexual harassment provisions of the city's human rights law to cover every private employee, regardless of where they work, and lets workers report harassment up to three years after it happens, officials said.

Another piece forces the city government to more closely track sexual harassment complaints. Every agency will be required to report complaints to the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, which will compile an annual report on the number of complaints filed.

The laws follow the downfalls of several high-profile figures from allegations of sexual misconduct — most recently former state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who resigned after four women accused him of abuse in an article The New Yorker published Monday.

"We're all, every one of us here, angry each time we see these incidents and we know it means we just have to work harder," de Blasio, a Democrat, said.

(Lead image: Photo by OneSideProFoto/Shutterstock)