New York State has its own anti-discrimination statute – the New York State Human Rights Law, found in Article 15 of the New York Executive Law – that applies statewide to employment discrimination claims against private employers, state government, and local government entities throughout the five boroughs and across the rest of New York State. For private sector workers and state and local government employees in New York, the NYSHRL creates substantive protections and access to the New York State Division of Human Rights administrative process that run alongside and, in some respects, significantly expand on federal Title VII protections. For federal employees, the familiar sovereign immunity analysis applies, and any New York Federal employee attorney who understands both the DC Human Rights Act situation and the NYCHRL analysis discussed elsewhere in this series will recognize the same structural answer: federal agencies are generally shielded from NYSHRL claims by federal sovereign immunity, making the federal EEO process the exclusive path for most federal employment discrimination claims in New York. But the NYSHRL’s 2019 amendments, and the specific categories of workers for whom it does create genuine additional protections, make the statute worth understanding in concrete terms rather than dismissing as irrelevant to the federal employment context.
What the NYSHRL Covers and How It Changed in 2019
The New York State Human Rights Law prohibits employment discrimination based on age, race, creed, color, national origin, sex, pregnancy, disability, familial status, marital status, and a range of other protected characteristics. It applies to employers with four or more employees – a lower threshold than Title VII’s fifteen-employee minimum – and its remedies include back pay, reinstatement, compensatory damages, and attorney fees.
Before 2019, the NYSHRL’s anti-discrimination standards were generally aligned with federal law, and New York courts applied federal Title VII precedents to NYSHRL claims, which limited the statute’s practical scope to cases that would likely succeed under federal law anyway.
The Human Rights Law Reform Act of 2019 changed that significantly. The amendments:
Raised the harassment standard from the prior severe or pervasive test to a “more than petty slights or trivial inconveniences” standard that aligns with the NYCHRL’s lower threshold, and extended that revised standard statewide to apply across New York beyond New York City limits.
Eliminated the prior requirement that employers be given advance notice of harassment before liability could attach in some circumstances, removing a procedural barrier that had allowed some harassment to escape liability.
Eliminated the Faragher-Ellerth affirmative defense in many circumstances – the defense that had allowed employers to avoid liability for supervisory harassment by showing they had reasonable complaint procedures that the employee failed to use. The 2019 amendments significantly narrowed when that defense is available, which is a substantive expansion of employer liability under state law that doesn’t have a federal equivalent.
Required that NYSHRL claims be interpreted broadly in favor of the claimant and that the NYSHRL be treated as a floor of protection rather than a ceiling.
These amendments moved the NYSHRL significantly closer to the NYCHRL’s standard across New York State, which means workers anywhere in New York – not just New York City – now have access to a more plaintiff-favorable harassment standard than federal Title VII provides.
Sovereign Immunity and Why Federal Agency Employees Cannot Use the NYSHRL Against Their Employers
The same sovereign immunity analysis that applies to the NYCHRL applies to the NYSHRL with equal force. Federal agencies are not subject to New York State employment discrimination law because the federal government’s sovereign immunity shields it from state law claims absent congressional waiver, and Congress has not waived federal immunity for NYSHRL claims.
For an IRS employee in Manhattan, an SSA employee in Brooklyn, a federal court employee at the EDNY in Central Islip, or any other federal employee at an executive branch agency anywhere in New York State, the NYSHRL is not an available avenue against their federal employer. The federal EEO complaint process – with its 45-day counseling contact deadline, its EEOC administrative hearing procedure, and its eventual access to federal district court – is the exclusive framework for employment discrimination claims against federal agencies.
This limitation applies throughout New York State, not only in New York City. A federal employee at the VA Hospital in Albany or the IRS Service Center in Andover has the same lack of access to the NYSHRL as a federal employee in Manhattan. The sovereign immunity analysis doesn’t vary by geography within the state.
The EEOC and DHR Work-Sharing Agreement: How Filing Works for Private Sector Workers
For private sector workers in New York who have both federal and state discrimination claims, understanding how the EEOC and the New York State Division of Human Rights interact is practically important. The two agencies operate under a work-sharing agreement – filing a charge with either the EEOC or the DHR automatically cross-files with the other, preserving both the federal and state tracks simultaneously.
The filing deadlines differ. The NYSHRL administrative complaint must be filed with the DHR within three years of the discriminatory act. The EEOC charge in a deferral state like New York must be filed within 300 days. The NYSHRL’s three-year window is substantially longer, which matters for workers whose situation has been developing over an extended period or who needed time to evaluate whether to pursue a formal complaint.
The DHR investigates complaints, holds hearings, and can order remedies including back pay, compensatory damages, and injunctive relief. Alternatively, workers can pursue NYSHRL claims directly in New York State Supreme Court without first going through the DHR administrative process – the NYSHRL is a direct-action statute that provides a litigation pathway without mandatory administrative exhaustion for court-filed claims.
One practical consideration for New York private sector workers: if a NYSHRL complaint is filed with the DHR and the DHR does not find probable cause, that determination can complicate a subsequent state court action. Some practitioners recommend preserving the direct court action option rather than pursuing the DHR administrative route when the facts are strong and court is likely to be the ultimate forum regardless.
Where the NYSHRL Creates Genuine Additional Protection
Three specific categories of New York workers benefit from the NYSHRL’s protections in ways that create genuine additional rights relative to federal law.
New York State government employees – those employed by New York State agencies, the SUNY system, the court system’s state employees (as distinguished from federal court employees), and other state entities – are covered by the NYSHRL. New York State has not retained sovereign immunity from NYSHRL claims in the employment context; state employees can bring NYSHRL claims through the DHR or in state court alongside any applicable federal claims. The 2019 amendments’ expanded harassment standard applies to state employment, which means New York State employees have access to the broader “more than petty slights” threshold statewide.
New York local government employees – those employed by cities, counties, towns, and villages throughout New York State – are covered by the NYSHRL. For workers at the City of New York (covered by the NYCHRL in addition to the NYSHRL), for workers at the Nassau County government, for school district employees on Long Island, and for local government workers anywhere in the state, the NYSHRL provides harassment and discrimination protections that apply alongside federal law.
Private sector employees in New York outside New York City – whose employer falls under the NYSHRL but not the NYCHRL – benefit from the 2019 amendments’ broader harassment standard statewide. A worker at a private employer in White Plains, Buffalo, or Syracuse now has access to a harassment standard closer to what New York City workers have under the NYCHRL than what Title VII alone provides.
What a New York Federal Employee Attorney Should Analyze at the Threshold
The NYSHRL threshold analysis – which employer is involved, which legal framework applies, and which combination of state and federal claims is available – is the same gateway question that governs the NYCHRL analysis. Federal agency employer means federal EEO process exclusively. New York State or local government employer means NYSHRL and potentially federal law. Private employer means NYSHRL, potentially NYCHRL (if in New York City), and federal law.
The post-2019 NYSHRL standard is meaningfully more favorable than Title VII on harassment claims for the workers who can access it, and that favorability should inform both legal strategy and settlement assessment for those workers. For New York federal employees who are transitioning out of federal service or who have parallel private sector or state/local government employment situations, the NYSHRL analysis is part of the complete picture.
The Mundaca Law Firm represents federal employees and other workers throughout New York in employment discrimination matters, including EEO complaints for federal employees and NYSHRL claims for private sector and state/local government workers. Contact the firm to schedule a consultation and understand which combination of legal frameworks applies to your specific employment situation.