New York City Reopens Window for Gender Violence Survivors: What the 2026 GMVA Amendment Means for You

On January 29, 2026, New York City took a major step forward for survivors of gender-based violence. The City Council overrode a mayoral veto to pass an amendment to the Gender Motivated Violence Act (GMVA), creating a new 18-month window for survivors to file civil claims—and critically, allowing them to sue the entities that enabled the violence.

The Problem: Institutional Claims Were Blocked

Between March 2023 and March 2025, New York City provided a lookback window that allowed survivors to file GMVA claims even if years or decades had passed. Hundreds came forward seeking to hold not just individual perpetrators accountable, but also the organizations where the violence occurred— private and public entities, detention facilities, schools, and government agencies.

However, the original GMVA text authorized lawsuits only against individual perpetrators. In January 2022, the City Council amended the law to include entities (referred to as “parties” in the amended law), but when survivors filed institutional claims during the 2023-2025 window for violence that occurred before January 9, 2022, courts ruled the amendment didn't apply retroactively. In September 2025, a Bronx court dismissed more than 450 lawsuits against New York City, finding the law's language wasn't clear enough to impose institutional liability for pre-January 9, 2022 incidents.

The Solution: What Changed in 2026

The 2026 amendment fixes this problem with three key provisions:

1. New 18-Month Filing Window

From January 29, 2026 through approximately July 29, 2027, survivors can file GMVA claims for gender-motivated violence that occurred before January 9, 2022—regardless of how long ago it happened.

Note: If the violence occurred on or after January 9, 2022, the ordinary seven-year statute of limitations applies.

2. Clear Authorization to Sue Entities That Enabled Violence

The amendment explicitly allows claims against organizations that enabled violence or failed to protect survivors, which may include:

Employers and workplaces
Government agencies
Detention facilities
Schools and educational institutions
Healthcare facilities
Religious organizations
Any other entity that had a duty to protect you

This is particularly significant for workplace violence. If your employer knew or should have known about gender-motivated violence, failed to investigate complaints, retaliated against you for reporting, or created conditions that enabled the harm, you may now be able to hold them accountable alongside individual perpetrators.

3. Previously Dismissed Cases Can Be Refiled

Survivors who filed during the 2023-2025 window that had their claims against institutions or organizations dismissed can now amend or refile those lawsuits.

What Is a GMVA Claim?

The GMVA allows survivors to file civil lawsuits for gender-motivated violence. To bring a claim, you must show that someone committed an act constituting crime against you that posed a serious risk of physical injury, and that they acted with gender-based animus.

Civil lawsuits differ from criminal cases. You can pursue a GMVA claim even if your attacker was never criminally charged, never convicted, or is no longer living. If successful, you can recover compensation for medical and mental health treatment, pain and suffering, emotional distress, lost wages, and other damages, as well as attorney's fees.

Understanding Time Limits

Under ordinary circumstances, GMVA claims have time limits ranging from seven to nine years depending on the specific facts of your case. Once these deadlines pass, survivors lose the ability to file claims.

Lookback windows temporarily lift these restrictions. During a lookback window, survivors can file claims regardless of when the violence occurred. The 2023-2025 window was the first such opportunity under the GMVA, and the new 2026 amendment creates a second chance—this time with the ability to pursue accountability from entities that enabled the harm.

Why This Matters in the Workplace

Gender-motivated violence in employment settings may take many forms—physical assault, sexual violence, severe harassment creating a hostile work environment, or violence connected to discrimination or retaliation. When employers fail to maintain safe workplaces, ignore complaints, or protect perpetrators, they create conditions where violence can thrive.

Many survivors face significant barriers to coming forward immediately—fear of retaliation, economic dependence on their employer, trauma responses, or power imbalances that make reporting feel impossible. By the time survivors are ready to pursue legal action, ordinary time limits may have expired.

The 2026 amendment recognizes these realities and ensures that employers who enabled gender-motivated violence should not be able escape accountability through legal technicalities.

What You Can Recover

GMVA claims allow survivors to pursue compensation for various harms, including:

Medical and mental health treatment costs, both past and future
Therapy, counseling, and psychiatric care
Pain and suffering
Emotional distress and psychological harm
Lost wages and diminished earning capacity
Other economic and non-economic damages

Who Should Consider Filing?

You may have a claim if:

You experienced gender-motivated violence in New York City before January 9, 2022
Your employer or another entity enabled the violence, failed to prevent it, or protected the perpetrator
You filed during the 2023-2025 window but couldn't pursue claims against entities, or those claims were dismissed
You never filed previously but now wish to pursue accountability

The Window Closes July 2027

The lookback window remains open until approximately July 29, 2027. These cases require thorough investigation and preparation, and this may be your final opportunity to pursue justice for violence that occurred years ago. Once this window closes, ordinary time limits will apply again.