New legislation aimed at protecting warehouse workers in New York is now in place, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced. The Warehouse Worker Protection Act, signed in December, took effect Monday.

The law applies to employers and employees at warehouse distribution centers.

“New York’s warehouse workers deserve to be treated with fairness, dignity and respect, and we are making a significant stride toward achieving that,” Hochul said.

Among the provisions of the act, workers are protected from:

• Being forced to work through meals to make quota.
• Limiting use of bathroom facilities to make quota.
• Retaliation from an employer relating to requesting quota information or reporting violation related to quotas.

The law also allows employees to request a written description of the quota to which they are subject if they believe their employer is in violation of the protections. They can also request a copy of the most recent 90 days of personal work-speed data and a copy of the aggregate work-speed data for similar employees at the same establishment during the same period.

Employers must also provide written descriptions of quotas to workers within 30 days of their start date.

Law firm Fisher Phillips discusses the new law in this post.