{"id":10008,"date":"2026-03-15T04:53:37","date_gmt":"2026-03-15T04:53:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/new-york-extends-statute-of-limitations-for-discrimination-harassment-and-retaliation-suits-and-enacts-changes-to-laws-governing-remedies-for-breach-of-non-disclosure-agreements-and-execution-of-con\/"},"modified":"2026-03-15T04:53:37","modified_gmt":"2026-03-15T04:53:37","slug":"new-york-extends-statute-of-limitations-for-discrimination-harassment-and-retaliation-suits-and-enacts-changes-to-laws-governing-remedies-for-breach-of-non-disclosure-agreements-and-execution-of-con","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/new-york-extends-statute-of-limitations-for-discrimination-harassment-and-retaliation-suits-and-enacts-changes-to-laws-governing-remedies-for-breach-of-non-disclosure-agreements-and-execution-of-con\/","title":{"rendered":"New York Extends Statute of Limitations for Discrimination, Harassment and Retaliation Suits, and Enacts Changes to Laws Governing Remedies for Breach of Non-Disclosure Agreements and Execution of Confidentiality Provisions in Agreements Resolving Discrimination, Harassment and Retaliation Claims"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div id=\"contentSummaryCollapse\" style=\"--intro-p-height: 10.3125rem;\">\n<div class=\"inner-collapse\">\n<h3>Extension of Statute of Limitations<\/h3>\n<p>On November 17, 2023, Governor Hochul signed <a href=\"https:\/\/nyassembly.gov\/leg\/?default_fld=&amp;leg_video=&amp;bn=A00501&amp;term=2023&amp;Summary=Y&amp;Actions=Y&amp;Text=Y\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">State Assembly Bill A00501<\/a> into law, extending the statute of limitations for discrimination and retaliation claims brought under the New York State Human Rights Law (\u201cNYSHRL\u201d) from one year to three years.\u00a0 New York law previously set a three-year statute of limitations period for claims involving sexual harassment in employment, and a one-year limitations period for other claims brought under the NYSHRL.\u00a0 The new law will go into effect on February 15, 2024, 90 days after signing, and will apply prospectively \u201cto all unlawful discriminatory practice claims arising on or after such effective date.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Amendments to Laws Governing Resolution of Claims<\/h3>\n<p>Governor Hochul also signed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nysenate.gov\/legislation\/bills\/2023\/S4516\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Senate Bill S4516<\/a> into law, which amends Section 5-336 of the New York General Obligations Law.\u00a0 The amendment applies to settlement agreements entered into by employers that concern claims of discrimination, harassment, or retaliation.\u00a0 The law went into effect immediately upon signing.<\/p>\n<p>Senate Bill S4516:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Prohibits settlement agreements that resolve claims\u2014the factual foundation for which involve \u201cunlawful discrimination, including discriminatory harassment, or retaliation\u201d\u2014from requiring complainants to \u201cforfeit all or part of the consideration for the agreement\u201d or \u201cpay liquidated damages for violation of a nondisclosure clause or nondisparagement clause.\u201d\u00a0 Thus, in the event of a breach by the complainant, employers likely will be limited to recovery of the extent of damages caused by the breach.\u00a0 The bill\u2019s sponsors stated that the amendment will \u201cprotect survivors from facing financial sanction for sharing their experiences of harassment and discrimination.\u201d\u00a0 The bill similarly prohibits agreements from including \u201cany affirmative statement, assertion, or disclaimer by the complainant that the complainant was not in fact subject to unlawful discrimination\u2026\u201d\u00a0 There is some ambiguity in the statute as to whether these changes apply only in situations where a complainant has threatened to bring or has actually filed a claim, or whether it also governs separation agreements that include a general release of claims.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Amends Section 5-336 of the General Obligations Law to permit complainants entering into pre-litigation settlement agreements that include confidentiality provisions to confirm their preference for confidentiality within 21 days after receiving the confidentiality provision.\u00a0 Since 2018, complainants have not been permitted to confirm their preference for confidentiality for at least 21 days after receiving the confidentiality provision.\u00a0 The new law maintains the requirement that complainants receive at least 21 days to consider such term or condition and at least seven days following the execution to \u201crevoke the agreement.\u201d\u00a0 However, the amendment does not apply to Section 5003-b of the Civil Practice Law and Rules, which continues to require that complainants wait at least 21 days to confirm their preference for confidentiality in any settlement agreement resolving a claim that has been filed in court.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Applies to \u201cindependent contractors\u201d a provision that previously barred contracts with employees and prospective employees that prevent \u201cthe disclosure of factual information related to any future claim of discrimination\u201d unless the provision notifies the complainant that it does not prevent communication with \u201claw enforcement, the equal employment opportunity commission, the state division of human rights, the attorney general, a local commission on human rights, or an attorney\u2026\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Extension of Statute of Limitations On November 17, 2023, Governor Hochul signed State Assembly Bill A00501 into law, extending the statute of limitations for discrimination and retaliation claims [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10009,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[718,293,300,7246,349,5520,7571,5876,7569,1532,694,7554,7570,7417,4441,7572,619,4249,558,326],"class_list":["post-10008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lawyers","tag-agreements","tag-breach","tag-claims","tag-confidentiality","tag-discrimination","tag-enacts","tag-execution","tag-extends","tag-governing","tag-harassment","tag-laws","tag-limitations","tag-nondisclosure","tag-provisions","tag-remedies","tag-resolving","tag-retaliation","tag-statute","tag-suits","tag-york"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10008\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}