New York Ends Year Passing Several New Employment Laws

New York wrapped up 2025 by enacting several employment laws that will require immediate attention from employers and HR professionals.

Signed by Governor Kathy Hochul in December, the new measures affect key areas of workplace compliance, including restrictions on training repayment agreements, limits on credit checks in hiring, expanded anti-discrimination standards, and new safety requirements for healthcare facilities.

Trapped at Work Act

Assembly Bill 584C prohibits all employers from requiring current or prospective workers to sign, as a condition of employment, an employment promissory note requiring repayment of training costs if the worker leaves employment before the passage of a stated time period. The law became effective December 19, 2025, immediately upon signing.

Such agreements or clauses are sometimes called training and retention repayment provisions (TRAPs) or “stay-or-pay” clauses. The law declares such provisions to be against public policy and unenforceable. Employer is defined to include any subsidiary or contractor of the employer, and worker includes an employee, independent contractor, extern, intern, volunteer or apprentice.

The law does not prohibit or render unenforceable any agreement requiring workers to repay wage advances that were not used for employment-related training, or to pay for the cost of property sold or leased to employees. Also excluded are any payments required as part of a program under a collective bargaining agreement.

Credit Check Limitations

Effective April 18, 2026, Senate Bill 3072 prohibits most employers from using credit history in employment decisions. Specifically, an employer may not request or use an applicant’s or employee’s consumer credit history for employment purposes, or discriminate on the basis of credit history, unless one of eight exceptions applies.

Consumer credit history refers to an individual’s creditworthiness, credit standing, credit capacity or payment history, as indicated by a consumer credit report, credit score or information obtained directly from the individual.

Violence-Prevention Programs for Healthcare Employers

Senate Bill S5294A requires general hospitals and nursing homes (as defined under state law) to establish a workplace violence-prevention program no later than September 18, 2027.

Starting January 1, 2027, and once a year thereafter, general hospitals will be required to conduct a workplace safety and security assessment and develop a safety and security plan that addresses identified workplace violence threats or hazards.

Effective September 18, 2026, a hospital’s emergency department (ED) will be required to have a security officer on premises at all times, either in the ED (for hospitals located in cities or counties with a population of 1 million or more) or near the ED (for hospitals in smaller localities).

Disparate Impact

Senate Bill 8338 amends the New York State Human Rights Law (NYSHRL) to officially recognize disparate impact liability. Under the law, an employment practice can constitute unlawful discrimination if it results in a disparate impact on a protected class, even if there is no discriminatory intent. An employer can defend a challenged practice by showing that:

• It is job-related and consistent with business necessity; and
• There is no alternative practice that would serve the same business purpose with less discriminatory effect.

The federal government’s recent retreat on disparate impact likely motivated the bill. Although disparate impact liability is part of the text of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, an April 2025 executive order characterized disparate impact liability as “contrary to equal protection under the law” and directed the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to deprioritize disparate impact cases.

S.B. 8338 took effect immediately upon signing on December 19, 2025.