New York proposes legal remedies for unaddressed workplace hazards

New York lawmakers are considering a bill that would create a time limit for regulators to address safety hazards in state-run facilities to avoid lawsuits tied to injured or killed workers.

S. 8441, introduced Thursday and referred to the Rules Committee, addresses situations in which the Commissioner of Labor neglected orders to investigate and remediate workplace safety issues in state-operated facilities, leading “to injuries that could have been prevented, as well as a climate of danger and fear for workers and clients alike,” according to a summary of the bill.

The bill aims to protect workers injured within 90 days after the commissioner was notified of a dangerous issue at a state-operated facility and failed to inspect or remediate the situation in that time frame. The bill would allow those workers to seek legal remedies against the state for the injuries or deaths that have resulted “directly from the failure to identify and remediate such dangerous situation,” the summary says.