§ 191 — Remedies

New York § 191

• Jurisdiction: New York
• Law STF: State Finance
• Art. 13: New York False Claims Act

Text

§ 191. Remedies. 1. Any current or former employee, contractor, or\nagent of any private or public employer who is discharged, demoted,\nsuspended, threatened, harassed or in any other manner discriminated\nagainst in the terms and conditions of employment, or otherwise harmed\nor penalized by an employer, or a prospective employer, because of\nlawful acts done by the employee, contractor, agent, or associated\nothers in furtherance of an action brought under this article or other\nefforts to stop one or more violations of this article, shall be\nentitled to all relief necessary to make the employee, contractor or\nagent whole. Such relief shall include but not be limited to:\n (a) an injunction to restrain continued discrimination;\n (b) hiring, contracting or reinstatement to the position such person\nwould have had but for the discrimination or to an equivalent position;\n (c) reinstatement of full fringe benefits and seniority rights;\n (d) payment of two times back pay, plus interest; and\n (e) compensation for any special damages sustained as a result of the\ndiscrimination, including litigation costs and reasonable attorneys'\nfees.\n 2. For purposes of this section, a "lawful act" shall include, but not\nbe limited to, obtaining or transmitting to the state, a local\ngovernment, a qui tam plaintiff, or private counsel solely employed to\ninvestigate, potentially file, or file a cause of action under this\narticle, documents, data, correspondence, electronic mail, or any other\ninformation, even though such act may violate a contract, employment\nterm, or duty owed to the employer or contractor, so long as the\npossession and transmission of such documents are for the sole purpose\nof furthering efforts to stop one or more violations of this article.\nNothing in this subdivision shall be interpreted to prevent any law\nenforcement authority from bringing a civil or criminal action against\nany person for violating any provision of law.\n 3. An employee, contractor or agent described in subdivision one of\nthis section may bring an action in the appropriate supreme court for\nthe relief provided in this section.\n