Assemblyman Englebright’s office called to say that the Labor Committee held A5414b.  They do expect to reintroduce legislation next January and in the meantime will look at the language definitions within the bill.  

Advocates for the bill said that The NY State Department of Labor, which took part in a conference call last week with them that also included Governor Paterson’s reps, had trouble with the phrase: “unrelated to the employer’s legitimate business interests.”

“ABUSIVE CONDUCT” MEANS CONDUCT, WITH MALICE, TAKEN AGAINST AN EMPLOYEE BY AN EMPLOYER OR ANOTHER EMPLOYEE IN THE WORKPLACE, THAT A REASONABLE PERSON WOULD FIND TO BE HOSTILE, OFFENSIVE AND UNRELATED TO THE EMPLOYER’S LEGITIMATE BUSINESS INTERESTS.

And here it is again:

MALICE MAY BE INFERRED FROM THE PRESENCE OF FACTORS SUCH AS OUTWARD EXPRESSIONS OF HOSTILITY, HARMFUL CONDUCT INCONSISTENT WITH AN EMPLOYER’S LEGITIMATE BUSINESS INTERESTS