New York State Law

Civil Rights Law

Consolidated Laws of New York's CVR code

Article 4 - NY Civil Rights Law

EQUAL RIGHTS IN PLACES OF PUBLIC ACCOMMODATION AND AMUSEMENT

Section Description
40Equal rights in places of public accommodation, resort or amusement.
40-AInquiry concerning religion or religious affiliations of person seeking employment or official position in public schools prohibited.
40-BWrongful refusal of admission to and ejection from places of public entertainment and amusement.
40-CDiscrimination.
40-DPenalty for violation.
40-EInnkeepers and carriers refusing to receive guests and passengers.
40-FDiscrimination against person or class in price for admission.
40-GDiscrimination against United States uniform.
41Penalty for violation.
42Discrimination by utility companies.
43Discrimination by labor organizations prohibited.
44Discrimination by industries involved in defense contracts.
44-AProtecting civil and public rights.
45Powers of administration vested in industrial commissioner.
  S 40. Equal  rights  in  places  of  public accommodation, resort or
  amusement. All persons within the jurisdiction of this  state  shall  be
  entitled  to  the  full and equal accommodations, advantages, facilities
  and privileges  of  any  places  of  public  accommodations,  resort  or
  amusement, subject only to the conditions and limitations established by
  law  and  applicable  alike  to all persons. No person, being the owner,
  lessee, proprietor, manager, superintendent, agent or  employee  of  any
  such place shall directly or indirectly refuse, withhold from or deny to
  any   person  any  of  the  accommodations,  advantages,  facilities  or
  privileges thereof, or directly or indirectly publish, circulate, issue,
  display, post or mail any written or printed  communication,  notice  or
  advertisement, to the effect that any of the accommodations, advantages,
  facilities  and  privileges of any such place shall be refused, withheld
  from or denied to any  person  on  account  of  race,  creed,  color  or
  national  origin, or that the patronage or custom thereat, of any person
  belonging to or purporting to be of any particular race, creed, color or
  national original is unwelcome, objectionable or not acceptable, desired
  or  solicited.  The  production  of  any   such   written   or   printed
  communication, notice or advertisement, purporting to relate to any such
  place  and to be made by any person being the owner, lessee, proprietor,
  superintendent or manager thereof, shall be presumptive evidence in  any
  civil  or criminal action that the same was authorized by such person. A
  place of public accommodation, resort or amusement within the meaning of
  this article, shall be deemed to include  inns,  taverns,  road  houses,
  hotels,  whether  conducted for the entertainment of transient guests or
  for the accommodation of those seeking health, recreation  or  rest,  or
  restaurants,  or  eating  houses,  or  any  place where food is sold for
  consumption on the premises; buffets, saloons, barrooms, or  any  store,
  park  or  enclosure where spirituous or malt liquors are sold; ice cream
  parlors, confectioneries, soda  fountains,  and  all  stores  where  ice
  cream,  ice  and  fruit  preparations  or  their  derivatives,  or where
  beverages of any kind are retailed  for  consumption  on  the  premises;
  retail  stores  and  establishments,  dispensaries,  clinics, hospitals,
  bath-houses, barber-shops,  beauty  parlors,  theatres,  motion  picture
  houses,  airdromes,  roof  gardens,  music  halls, race courses, skating
  rinks, amusement and  recreation  parks,  fairs,  bowling  alleys,  golf
  courses,  gymnasiums,  shooting  galleries,  billiard  and pool parlors,
  public libraries, kindergartens, primary  and  secondary  schools,  high
  schools,  academies,  colleges  and universities, extension courses, and
  all educational institutions under the supervision of the regents of the
  state of New York; and any such public  library,  kindergarten,  primary
  and secondary school, academy, college, university, professional school,
  extension  course,  or other educational facility, supported in whole or
  in part by public funds or by contributions solicited from  the  general
  public;  garages,  all public conveyances, operated on land or water, as
  well as the stations and terminals  thereof;  public  halls  and  public
  elevators  of  buildings and structures occupied by two or more tenants,
  or by the owner and one or more tenants. With regard to institutions for
  the care of neglected and/or delinquent children supported  directly  or
  indirectly,  in  whole  or  in part, by public funds, no accommodations,
  advantages, facilities and privileges  of  such  institutions  shall  be
  refused,  withheld  from  or  denied to any person on account of race or
  color.  Nothing  herein  contained  shall  be  construed  to  modify  or
  supersede  any of the provisions of the children's court act, the social
  welfare law or the domestic relations court act  of  New  York  city  in
  regard  to  religion  of custodial persons or agencies or to include any
  institution, club, or place of accommodation  which  is  in  its  nature
  distinctly   private,   or   to   prohibit  the  mailing  of  a  private
  communication in writing sent in response to a specific written inquiry.
    No  institution,  club,  organization  or place of accommodation which
  sponsors or conducts any amateur athletic contest or sparring exhibition
  and advertises or bills such contest or exhibition as a New  York  state
  championship  contest  or  uses  the  words  "New  York  state"  in  its
  announcements shall be deemed a private exhibition within the meaning of
  this section.

  S 40-a. Inquiry  concerning  religion  or  religious affiliations of
  person  seeking  employment  or  official  position  in  public  schools
  prohibited.    No  person,  agency,  bureau,  corporation or association
  employed or maintained to obtain  or  aid  in  obtaining  positions  for
  teachers,  principals, superintendents, clerks or other employees in the
  public  schools  of  the  state  of  New  York,  and  no  individual  or
  individuals   conducting  or  employed  by  or  interested  directly  or
  indirectly in such an agency, bureau, corporation or association, and no
  board of  education,  trustee  of  a  school  district,  superintendent,
  principal or teacher of a public school or other official or employee of
  a  board  of  education,  shall  directly or indirectly ask, indicate or
  transmit orally or in writing the religion or religious  affiliation  of
  any person seeking employment or official position in the public schools
  of the state of New York.

  S 40-b. Wrongful refusal of admission to and ejection from places of
  public  entertainment  and  amusement.  No   person,   agency,   bureau,
  corporation   or  association,  being  the  owner,  lessee,  proprietor,
  manager, superintendent, agent  or  employee  of  any  place  of  public
  entertainment and amusement as hereinafter defined shall refuse to admit
  to  any public performance held at such place any person over the age of
  twenty-one years who presents a ticket of admission to the performance a
  reasonable time before the  commencement  thereof,  or  shall  eject  or
  demand  the  departure  of  any  such  person from such place during the
  course of the performance, whether or not accompanied  by  an  offer  to
  refund  the purchase price or value of the ticket of admission presented
  by such person; but nothing in this section contained shall be construed
  to prevent the refusal of admission to or the  ejection  of  any  person
  whose conduct or speech thereat or therein is abusive or offensive or of
  any  person  engaged  in  any activity which may tend to a breach of the
  peace.
    The places of public entertainment and amusement within the meaning of
  this section shall be legitimate  theatres,  burlesque  theatres,  music
  halls, opera houses, concert halls and circuses.

  S 40-c. Discrimination. 1. All persons within the jurisdiction of this
  state  shall  be  entitled  to  the equal protection of the laws of this
  state or any subdivision thereof.
    2. No person shall, because of race, creed,  color,  national  origin,
  sex,  marital  status, sexual orientation or disability, as such term is
  defined in section two hundred  ninety-two  of  the  executive  law,  be
  subjected  to  any  discrimination in his or her civil rights, or to any
  harassment, as defined in section  240.25  of  the  penal  law,  in  the
  exercise  thereof,  by  any  other person or by any firm, corporation or
  institution, or by the state or any agency or subdivision of the state.

  S 40-d. Penalty for violation. Any person who shall violate any of the
  provisions  of  the  foregoing  section, or subdivision three of section
  240.30 or section 240.31 of the penal law, or who shall  aid  or  incite
  the  violation  of  any  of  said  provisions  shall  for each and every
  violation thereof be liable to a penalty of not less  than  one  hundred
  dollars  nor  more  than  five  hundred  dollars, to be recovered by the
  person aggrieved thereby in any court of competent jurisdiction  in  the
  county  in which the defendant shall reside. In addition, any person who
  shall violate any of the provisions of the foregoing  section  shall  be
  deemed guilty of a class A misdemeanor. At or before the commencement of
  any  action  under this section, notice thereof shall be served upon the
  attorney general.

  S 40-e. Innkeepers  and  carriers  refusing  to  receive  guests and
  passengers.  A person, who, either on his own account  or  as  agent  or
  officer of a corporation, carries on business as innkeeper, or as common
  carrier  of  passengers,  and  refuses, without just cause or excuse, to
  receive and entertain any guest, or to receive and carry any  passenger,
  is guilty of a misdemeanor.

  S 40-f. Discrimination against person or class in price for admission.
  If  a  person  who owns, occupies, manages or controls a building, park,
  inclosure or other place, opens the same  to  the  public  generally  at
  stated  periods  or  otherwise,  he  shall  not discriminate against any
  person or class of persons in the price charged for admission thereto. A
  person  violating  the  provisions  of  this  section  is  guilty  of  a
  misdemeanor.

  S 40-G. Discrimination  against United States uniform.  A person who
  excludes from the equal enjoyment  of  any  accommodation,  facility  or
  privilege  furnished  by  innkeepers  or  common  carriers, amusement or
  resort, any person lawfully wearing  the  uniform  of  the  army,  navy,
  marine  corps or revenue cutter service of the United States, because of
  that uniform, is guilty of a misdemeanor.

  S 41. Penalty for violation.   Any person who or any agency, bureau,
  corporation or association which shall violate any of the provisions  of
  sections  forty, forty-a, forty-b or forty-two or who or which shall aid
  or incite the violation of any of said provisions  and  any  officer  or
  member  of  a  labor  organization, as defined by section forty-three of
  this chapter, or any person representing any organization or  acting  in
  its   behalf  who  shall  violate  any  of  the  provisions  of  section
  forty-three of this chapter or who shall aid or incite the violation  of
  any of the provisions of such section shall for each and every violation
  thereof  be liable to a penalty of not less than one hundred dollars nor
  more than five hundred dollars, to be recovered by the person  aggrieved
  thereby  or  by  any  resident  of this state, to whom such person shall
  assign his cause of action, in any court of  competent  jurisdiction  in
  the  county  in  which  the plaintiff or the defendant shall reside; and
  such person and the manager or owner of or each officer of such  agency,
  bureau,  corporation  or  association,  and  such officer or member of a
  labor organization or person acting in his behalf, as the  case  may  be
  shall,  also,  for every such offense be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor,
  and upon conviction thereof shall be fined not  less  than  one  hundred
  dollars  nor  more than five hundred dollars, or shall be imprisoned not
  less than thirty days nor more than ninety days, or both such  fine  and
  imprisonment.  At  or  before  the commencement of any action under this
  section, notice thereof shall be served upon the attorney general.

  S 42. Discrimination  by utility companies. It shall be unlawful for
  any public utility company, as defined in the  public  service  law,  to
  refuse  to  employ  any  person  in  any  capacity  in  the operation or
  maintenance of a public service on account of the race, creed, color  or
  national origin of such person.

  S 43. Discrimination  by  labor organizations prohibited. As used in
  this section, the term "labor organization" means any organization which
  exists and is constituted for the purpose,  in  whole  or  in  part,  of
  collective   bargaining,   or   of  dealing  with  employers  concerning
  grievances, terms or conditions of employment, or of other mutual aid or
  protection.  No  labor  organization  shall   hereafter,   directly   or
  indirectly,   by   ritualistic   practice,   constitutional   or  by-law
  prescription, by tacit agreement among its members, or otherwise, deny a
  person or persons membership in its organization by reason of his  race,
  creed,  color  or  national  origin,  or  by  regulations,  practice  or
  otherwise, deny to any of its members, by reason of race,  creed,  color
  or  national  origin,  equal  treatment  with  all  other members in any
  designation of members to any  employer  for  employment,  promotion  or
  dismissal by such employer.

  S 44. Discrimination by industries involved in defense contracts.  It
  shall be unlawful for any person, firm or  corporation  engaged  to  any
  extent  whatsoever  in  the  production,  manufacture or distribution of
  military or naval material, equipment or supplies for the state  of  New
  York or for the federal government to refuse to employ any person in any
  capacity on account of the race, color, creed or national origin of such
  person.

  S 44-A. Protecting  civil  and  public  rights.    A  person who: 1.
  Excludes a citizen of this state,  by  reason  of  race,  color,  creed,
  national  origin  or  previous  condition  of servitude, from any public
  employment or employment  in  any  capacity  in  industries  engaged  in
  defense  contracts  or  from  the  equal enjoyment of any accommodation,
  facility or privilege furnished by innkeepers or common carriers, or  by
  owners, managers or lessees of theatres or other places of amusement, or
  by  teachers  and  officers of common schools and public institutions of
  learning; or,
    2. Excludes a citizen of this state by reason of race, color, national
  origin or previous condition of servitude from the  equal  enjoyment  of
  any  accommodation,  facility  or  privilege  furnished  by  a  cemetery
  association or associations; or,
    3. Denies or aids or incites another  to  deny  to  any  other  person
  because  of  race,  creed, color or national origin public employment or
  employment in any capacity in industries engaged in war contracts or the
  full enjoyment of any of the accommodations, advantages, facilities  and
  privileges  of  any hotel, inn, tavern, restaurant, public conveyance on
  land or water, theatre or other place of public resort or amusement;
    Is guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by fine of not less than  fifty
  dollars nor more than five hundred dollars.

  S 45. Powers of administration vested in industrial commissioner.  The
  industrial   commissioner   may   enforce  the  provisions  of  sections
  forty-two, forty-three and forty-four of this chapter. For this  purpose
  he  may  use  the  powers  of  administration,  investigation,  inquiry,
  subpoena, and hearing vested in him by the labor  law;  he  may  require
  submission at regular intervals or otherwise of information, records and
  reports pertinent to discriminatory practices in industries.

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