New York Enacts New Protections Against False Impersonation of Public Sector Unions And Addresses Manipulative Campaign Efforts 

September 28, 2026

By: Alyson Mathews, Samuel P. Wiles, and Samuel G. Dobre

New York recently enacted legislation prohibiting the false impersonation of public sector employee organizations and their representatives. The new law, which Governor Hochul signed on Sept. 9, 2026, amends the Civil Service Law to add a new section, which takes effect immediately. This new section provides that “no person shall falsely impersonate an employee organization or an employee organization representative.” (N.Y. Civ. Serv. Law § 216 (2)).

The Legislation’s Purpose and Goal 

The stated purpose of this new law is “to protect public employees from fraud or misrepresentations,” relating to impersonations. The law defines “falsely impersonate” to mean using fraud, misrepresentation, material omission or other deception, with the specific intent to deceive the recipient and cause harm to the recipient or employee organization, in connection with a verbal, written or electronic communication that purports to be authorized or approved by an employee organization or its representative when it has not been authorized or approved.

The legislation reflects the Legislature’s stated concern that public employees may be misled by communications that appear to originate from their union or an authorized union representative when, in fact, they do not. According to the sponsors, the legislation was intended to address a perceived gap in existing law governing public sector labor relations.

This legislation provides a new tool for the state to combat fraudulent communications directed at public employees in connection with anti-labor campaigns and is designed to deter efforts to interfere with the relationship between public sector unions and represented employees through false impersonation or misleading communications. The law is directed at communications involving public sector employee organizations and their representatives under New York's Civil Service Law. The statute does not, on its face, prohibit criticism of unions, advocacy against union membership or disagreement with union policies. Rather, its prohibition is directed at communications that purport to be authorized or approved by an employee organization or its representative when they are not union or a union representative and are made with the specific intent to deceive and/or cause harm.

Further, it does not prohibit third-party organizations, such as advocacy groups or employee rights organizations, from communicating with public employees. The key issue under the statute is whether the communication falsely purports to have been authorized or approved by the employee organization or its representative and otherwise satisfies the statutory definition of false impersonation.

The motivation for this legislation arises out of apparent attacks on public sector labor organizations in recent years. The sponsor’s memo provides insight in this respect, as it explains, “employee organizations have increasingly faced efforts by outside actors to mislead employees through fraudulent or deceptive communications that falsely claim to come from a union or union representative.” The legislation is intended to specifically prohibit this type of conduct, thereby closing a gap in previously existing law.

The Role of Janus v. AFSCME

The legislation comes against the backdrop of changes in public sector labor relations following the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2018 decision in Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Council 31. In Janus, the Supreme Court held that it is unlawful for public sector employers or unions to require employees who are not voluntary dues paying union members to pay an agency fee to a union as a condition of obtaining employment or continued employment. Public sector unions have, according to the law’s legislative sponsors’ justification, faced significant membership and financial challenges since that decision, including operational issues related to manipulative outreach efforts and membership revocation campaigns.[1]

Enforcement and Potential Penalties

The new law does not create a private right of action for unions or employee organization representatives. Instead, Section 216 authorizes the Attorney General to enforce this law and bring an action against any person or organization violating this statute. Moreover, the Attorney General is empowered to “bring such an action against any person disseminating verbal, written or electronic communications in this state, whether or not the person is within the state.” Pursuant to such an enforcement action, the Attorney General may seek to recover a civil penalty of $1,000 per incident, although courts retain discretion to reduce the total penalty where the amount would be disproportionate to the defendant's conduct.

What Public Sector Employers Should Know

We expect challenges to this new law, which are most likely to be framed as an attack on free speech and First Amendment concerns by regulating otherwise protected communications designed merely to inform public sector employees of their rights.  Going forward, public sector employers should be mindful of any outreach to their unionized employees. Because the statute is new, additional guidance and judicial decisions may further clarify its scope, including the circumstances under which a communication will be deemed to constitute false impersonation and the application of the law to communications originating outside New York.

For questions or additional information regarding the new law and its requirements, please contact Alyson Mathews, Sam Wiles, Samuel Dobre or any attorney in Bond’s Labor and Employment practice or the attorney at the firm with whom you regularly work.