The New York City Human Rights Law was recently amended, yet again, to enhance the protections available to NYC workers.
Effective January 11, 2020, the statute – one of the (if not the) broadest civil rights laws in the country – protects freelancers and independent contractors in addition to, e.g., “employees” and interns.
The new law states:
Additional provisions relating to employment. The protections of this chapter relating to employees apply to interns, freelancers and independent contractors.
[N.Y.C. Admin. Code ยง 8-107(23).]
This is yet another manner in which the City Law is broader than federal law (such as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964), which protects only “employees.”