What's happening
This bill makes it illegal for employers in New York to require employees to be implanted with identification microchips.
Why it matters
Protects bodily autonomy and privacy. The bill ensures employees can’t be forced to undergo invasive procedures, like having a microchip implanted, to get or keep a job—addressing concerns about personal freedom and control over one’s own body.
Defines and regulates emerging workplace technologies. By specifying what qualifies as "personal identification microchip technology," the law creates clear boundaries for what employers can and cannot require, helping address potential future abuses as these technologies become more common.
Establishes legal consequences for violations. Making it a class A misdemeanor for employers to require microchip implantation introduces real accountability and deterrence, signaling that New York takes employee rights and technological intrusions seriously.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Ban Forced Workplace Microchipping
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to labor
- Referred to rules
Full text
1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
6874
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
September 18, 2017
Introduced by Sen. AVELLA -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules
AN ACT to amend the labor law, in relation to prohibiting employers from requiring an employee to be implanted with a microchip
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. The labor law is amended by adding a new section 201-g to read as follows:
§ 201-g. Microchipping of employees prohibited. 1. It shall be unlawful for any employer to require a person to be implanted with personal identification microchip technology as a condition of securing or continuing employment.
2. The term "personal identification microchip technology" as used in this section shall mean a subcutaneous or surgically implanted microchip technology device or product that contains or is designed to contain a unique identification number and personal information that can be noninvasively retrieved or transmitted with an external scanning device.
3. Any employer who violates this section shall be guilty of a class A misdemeanor.
§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13356-01-7
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the labor law, in relation to prohibiting employers from requiring an employee to be implanted with a microchip
Purpose
The purpose of this bill is to prevent the forced microchipping of employees as a condition of employment.
Summary of provisions
Section 1 of this bill amends the labor law by adding section 201-g concerning the prohibition of employers requiring their employees to be microchipped as a condition of employment, and making such action a class A misdemeanor.
Section 2 of this bill states that this act shall take effect immediate- ly after it shall have become a law
Justification
Employers in several states are beginning to utilize microchipping tech- nology by offering optional implants of radio frequency identification devices ("RFID") into employees enabling them to connect to workplace systems via these devices.
A report by the American Medical Association's Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs underscores the ethical issues connected with human RFID microchip implants. The report noted that such implants can present physical risks to patients including causing interference with electro- magnetic devices and defibrillators. Further, the report found that the implants raise privacy and security issues.
As New York remains an at-will employment state, employers could make these implants mandatory as a condition of employment. No employee should be forced to sacrifice their bodily autonomy as a prerequisite to obtaining or keeping their employment.
Several states across the country have already enacted laws to prohibit this practice, and it is imperative that New York join these states in ensuring that the bodily integrity of our citizens is not violated.
Legislative history
New Bill.
Fiscal implications
To be determined.
Effective date
This act shall take effect immediately after it shall have become a law
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.