Toll-free hotline to report sexual harassment incidents and more, signed into law by New York Gov. Hochul

HELL’S KITCHEN, Manhattan (PIX11) — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Wednesday signed into law a bill that will create a toll-free confidential hotline for reporting incidents of sexual harassment in the workplace.

Hochul commemorated Women’s History Month by signing into law three bills that would combat sexual harassment in the workplace. She was joined at the Javits Center by other state officials.

“Sexual harassment in the workplace is as old as the workplace,” she said.

Hochul first discussed the confidential hotline bill, which was sponsored by New York Sen. Alessandra Biaggi and Rep. Yuh-Line Niou. The second bill, sponsored by Sen. Andrew Gounardes, subjects all state and public employers to the human rights law. The last bill, also sponsored by Gounardes and Rep. Jessica González-Rojas, prevents certain retaliatory actions by employers in discriminatory incidents reported by employees.

Tori Burnhans Kelly, co-founder of the Sexual Harassment Working Group, applauded the bill signings. She also shared that she was a victim of sexual harassment in the workplace.

“My experience may have made the news, but it’s not unique,” she said.

Hochul also mentioned the disparity in pay between men and women, the disparity in health care between white people and people of color, and the inaccessibility of affordable child care.

She said the signing of the bills was personal. She has a daughter, a granddaughter on the way and a mother who fought for women’s rights in the 1960s.