Marie J. French reports for Politico that critics say the new sexual harassment rules passed in Albany don't do much. Lawmakers just passed rules making employers liable for sexual harassment against independent contractors, consultants, and other non-employees. Many employment attorneys applauded that measure. But they were more critical of a provision prohibiting mandatory arbitration for sexual harassment claims in employment contracts, which several experts said would be overridden by federal law. "These laws will not adequately protect workers, leaving them to navigate an opaque process and in danger of retaliation," several former female staffers who have accused lawmakers of sexual misconduct and harassment wrote on Friday. "By rushing through the process of reforming our sexual harassment laws without critical input from stakeholders, especially survivors, New York will not be the national leader it aims to be." Kevin Mintzer, an attorney who has represented women in harassment claims against the Assembly, thought the legislature could have done more. “The reforms are disappointing and they appear to be mostly window dressing,” Mintzer said. “The Legislature and the governor could have taken this moment where there’s all this attention on sexual harassment to really beef up the state human rights law to change the standard which requires sexual harassment to be severe and pervasive — they didn’t do that.” Read the full story at Politico.