Who Is Protected: Employees, Independent Contractors, Interns and Domestic Workers in New York

New York State and New York City law protect more people than traditional payroll employees. The New York State Human Rights Law (NYSHRL) has separate sections for unpaid interns and for non-employees such as contractors, vendors and consultants, and the New York City Human Rights Law (NYCHRL) applies its employee protections to interns, freelancers and independent contractors.⁠^[4][1][2] On the federal side, the EEOC says people who are not employed by the employer, such as independent contractors, are not covered by the laws it enforces.⁠^[3]

This page is about which workers are covered. Which employers are covered is a separate question, answered in the employee-count guide.

Who is covered under each law?

Worker	Federal law	New York State (NYSHRL)	New York City (NYCHRL)
Employees and job applicants	Title VII bars refusing to hire, firing or otherwise discriminating against any individual because of a listed characteristic⁠[8]	An employer may not refuse to hire, bar or discharge from employment, or discriminate in compensation or terms, conditions or privileges of employment⁠[9]	An employer, or an employee or agent of one, may not refuse to hire or employ, discharge, or discriminate in compensation or terms, conditions or privileges of employment⁠[10]
Independent contractors, freelancers, vendors, consultants	The EEOC says independent contractors are not covered by the laws it enforces⁠[3]	The employer may be liable to a non-employee providing services under a contract in its workplace, under Executive Law § 296-d⁠[1]	The protections relating to employees apply to freelancers and independent contractors⁠[2]
Interns	No federal rule on interns is stated in this guide	Protected by Executive Law § 296-c, which covers unpaid interns⁠[4]	The protections relating to employees apply to interns, paid or unpaid⁠[2][5]
Domestic workers	Title VII applies only to employers with 15 or more employees⁠[11]	Employees with full employment protections since December 31, 2021⁠[6]	Covered where a person employs one or more domestic workers, without regard to the number of other employees⁠[7]
People employed by a parent, spouse or child	No federal rule on this point is stated in this guide	Excluded from the definition of "employee"⁠[12]	The employment discrimination subdivision does not govern their employment⁠[13]

Employees and job applicants

All three layers protect applicants as well as current employees, because each one reaches a refusal to hire.⁠^[8][9][10] Under the NYSHRL, an employer or employment agency also may not use an application form or make a pre-employment inquiry that expresses a limitation or discrimination as to a protected characteristic, unless it is based on a bona fide occupational qualification.⁠^[14]

The U.S. Supreme Court reads Title VII's disparate-treatment provision as protecting "any individual," with no distinction between majority-group and minority-group plaintiffs.⁠^[15] Title VII's definition of "employee" excludes elected state and local officials, their personal staff, policy-making appointees and immediate legal advisers, but the exclusion does not reach employees covered by civil service laws.⁠^[16] State law is different on that point: under the NYSHRL the State and its localities are the employers of their employees and officials, including elected officials and the staff of elected officials.⁠^[17]

The list of characteristics each law protects is in the protected characteristics guide.

Independent contractors, freelancers, vendors and consultants

Federal law

The EEOC states that people who are not employed by the employer, such as independent contractors, are not covered by the laws it enforces.⁠^[3]

New York State: Executive Law § 296-d

Under the NYSHRL it is an unlawful discriminatory practice for an employer to permit unlawful discrimination against non-employees in its workplace.⁠^[1] The employer may be held liable to a contractor, subcontractor, vendor, consultant or other person providing services under a contract in the workplace, or to that person's employee, when the employer, its agents or its supervisors knew or should have known that the non-employee was subjected to an unlawful discriminatory practice in the employer's workplace and the employer failed to take immediate and appropriate corrective action.⁠^[1]

The section sets its own conditions. Liability depends on what the employer knew or should have known and on whether it took corrective action, and the statute directs that the extent of the employer's control, and any other legal responsibility it has, over the conduct of the person who discriminated be considered.⁠^[1]

Section 296-d was added in 2018 and originally covered only sexual harassment of non-employees; L. 2019, ch. 160 widened it to every unlawful discriminatory practice, effective October 11, 2019.⁠^[18][19]

State guidance addresses two practical points. The State tells a contractor's employee who is harassed at a client site that both their own employer and the business operating the worksite have to provide a harassment-free workplace, and to report to both.⁠^[20] The State also says employers are not required to give their sexual harassment policy or training to independent contractors, vendors or consultants, but encourages it because the employer can be liable for their actions in its workplace.⁠^[21]

New York City

The NYCHRL states that "the protections of this chapter relating to employees apply to interns, freelancers and independent contractors."⁠^[2] That sentence was extended to freelancers and independent contractors by Local Law 172 of 2019.⁠^[2] Independent contractors working in furtherance of the employer's business are also counted as persons in its employ for the City's four-person threshold.⁠^[22]

The City law also addresses contractors as wrongdoers: an employer is liable for discrimination by a person it engaged as an independent contractor only where the conduct occurred in the course of that work and the employer had actual knowledge of it and acquiesced.⁠^[23]

Other statutes that reach contractors

Some New York statutes outside the Human Rights Laws define "employee" for themselves. Labor Law § 740, the State whistleblower statute, defines the term to include former employees and natural persons employed as independent contractors to carry out work in furtherance of an employer's business who are not themselves employers.⁠^[24] See the whistleblower guide and the guide for independent contractors and gig workers.

Interns

Under the NYSHRL, an "intern" is a person who performs work for an employer for the purpose of training where the employer is not committed to hire the person at the end of the training period and both agree that no wages are owed, among other conditions.⁠^[4] An employer may not refuse to hire, discharge or discriminate against an intern because of a listed characteristic, may not retaliate against an intern, and may not sexually or otherwise harass an intern.⁠^[4]

Two details differ from the rules for employees under the State law. The intern section's list of characteristics is its own list, and it does not include familial status.⁠^[4][9] The intern section also still describes prohibited harassment with older wording, referring to harassment that unreasonably interferes with the intern's work performance by creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive working environment; the Legislature did not rewrite it to match the 2019 harassment paragraph for employees.⁠^[25] This guide does not state how courts apply the two provisions together.

Under the NYCHRL, an intern is someone who works for an employer temporarily, whose work provides training or experience and is closely supervised, whether or not the employer pays a salary or wage.⁠^[5] The City law's protections relating to employees apply to interns.⁠^[2]

Domestic workers

Domestic workers are "employees" with the full employment protections of the NYSHRL.⁠^[6] L. 2021, ch. 830, signed and effective December 31, 2021, deleted the domestic-service exclusion from the definition of employee and repealed Executive Law § 296-b, the former section that protected domestic workers only against certain harassment.⁠^[6] Material that cites § 296-b as current law is out of date.⁠^[6]

In New York City, the NYCHRL's protections relating to employees apply to a person's employment of one or more domestic workers without regard to the number of other employees that person has; the City's criminal-history subdivisions and its lactation-room paragraphs are excepted.⁠^[7] The NYSHRL's definition of employer has no minimum number of employees.⁠^[26]

See sexual harassment in restaurants, retail and domestic work.

People who work for a family member

The NYSHRL's definition of "employee" excludes individuals employed by their own parents, spouse or child.⁠^[12] The NYCHRL's employment discrimination subdivision does not govern an employer's employment of its parents, spouse, domestic partner or children, although those relatives are counted as persons employed for the four-person threshold.⁠^[13]

Do you have to live or work in New York?

Residence is not required, but a connection to New York is. A person who does not live in New York State has to plead and prove that the alleged discriminatory conduct had an impact within the state to sue under the NYSHRL.⁠^[27] The same impact requirement extends the NYCHRL's protection to non-residents who work in New York City.⁠^[28] In 2024 the Court of Appeals held that the State and City laws each protect non-residents who are not yet employed in the state or city but who proactively sought an actual New York State- or City-based job.⁠^[29][30] The details are in the remote-work guide.

Are you protected if the employer is wrong about you, or targets someone close to you?

The NYCHRL protects a person against employment discrimination because of an "actual or perceived" protected characteristic.⁠^[10] It also prohibits discrimination against a person because of the actual or perceived race, creed, color, national origin, disability, age, sexual orientation, uniformed service or immigration or citizenship status of someone with whom that person has a known relationship or association.⁠^[31] Federal law has an association rule for disability: the ADA prohibits denying equal jobs or benefits to a qualified individual because of the known disability of a person with whom the individual is known to have a relationship or association.⁠^[32] See perceived disability and association discrimination.

Does immigration status change who is protected?

Both New York layers name it as a protected characteristic. "Citizenship or immigration status" was added to the NYSHRL by L. 2022, ch. 748, signed December 23, 2022, and effective immediately.⁠^[33] The NYCHRL's employment provision lists "immigration or citizenship status."⁠^[10] See rights of undocumented and immigrant workers.

What do people commonly get wrong?

• "Independent contractors and freelancers are not protected." In New York City the employee protections of the NYCHRL apply to them, and under the NYSHRL an employer may be liable to a non-employee working in its workplace.⁠^[2][1]
• "Executive Law § 296-d is the customer-harassment rule." By its text § 296-d protects non-employees who provide services in the workplace; it does not itself say an employer is liable when a customer harasses an employee.⁠^[1] That situation is covered in harassment by customers, clients and vendors.
• "Domestic workers are protected only against harassment." That describes the repealed § 296-b; since December 31, 2021, domestic workers are employees with the full employment protections of the State law.⁠^[6]
• "Interns have no rights because they are not paid." The State intern section is written for interns who are owed no wages, and the City definition applies whether or not the intern is paid.⁠^[4][5]