Senate approves bill requiring state agencies to add bullying, abusive conduct to workplace violence prevention programs

The New York State Senate on March 17, 2025, approved legislation that adds "abusive conduct" and "bullying" to the states written workplace violence prevention requirements for state agencies and other state employers and requires training for employees and supervisors.

The bills sponsor, Senator Jessica Ramos, said the measure is intended to ensure supervisors and state employers have training and prevention programs so "no worker is being bullied on the job." Ramos also noted a prior veto message by Governor Kathy Hochul and said sponsors hope clarifications and legislative intent will help future executive-branch review.

Supporters described the bill as a training and prevention measure for state employees. Ramos told colleagues the change requires agencies to include abusive conduct and bullying in the same risk-evaluation and prevention framework that state law already applies to assaults and homicides. "This bill is about making sure that the supervisors, commissioners, our state agencies, and our state employers have training available in order to ensure that no worker is being bullied on the job," Ramos said while explaining her vote.

Opponents questioned how the new language would be applied in high-risk settings such as correctional facilities and pressed whether the bill would require operational changes inside prisons. Senator Joseph Walzick asked repeatedly whether the bill would require the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision to separate violent inmates from staff; Ramos and other sponsors repeatedly answered that the statute being considered concerns employee training and written prevention programs and does not itself direct operational corrections practices. Walzick asked a series of hypotheticals about spitting, throwing feces, and incidents requiring Narcan to test whether those events would be covered; the sponsor replied that such conduct was already covered by existing law and that the bill focuses on the training and program requirement.

The Senate transcript includes a reference to a veto message (veto message 130) from Governor Kathy Hochul asserting the prior version of the bill did not define the conduct precisely and could lead to confusion; Ramos acknowledged that message on the floor. During debate, senators also discussed the bills application to the New York National Guard when activated by the state and to corrections staff, and stressed that the bill does not itself mandate separations or non-training operational steps.

After floor debate the Senate passed the bill (Calendar 4308; Senate Print 4925) by recorded vote. The roll call on the bill, as announced on the floor, recorded 53 yeas and 7 nays. The transcript does not specify a mover/second for the motion on final passage. The bills text, as discussed on the floor, adds abusive conduct and bullying to the list of risks employers must evaluate and to the elements of required written workplace violence prevention programs for covered state employers.

The legislative record in the transcript indicates the measure was passed on final reading; the bills effective date was not clearly stated in the portion of the transcript that contains the final roll call and is therefore not specified in this report.