Mar 31, 2014 07:14 PM EDT By Jaleesa Baulkman, UniversityHerald Reporter

Interns in New York City will have the same protections against "pervy bosses" as paid employees, the New York Daily News reported.

Under a bill passed Wednesday by the New York City Council, unpaid workers are now protected against sexual harassment and discrimination based on race, religion and sexual orientation in the workplace, ProPublica reported.

"We had to close a loophole that was so big we could drive a truck through it," Councilman Jimmy Vacca, D-Bronx, is quoted as saying by the New York Daily News.

The measure was passed unanimously.

New York City joins Oregon and Washington D.C. on the list of places with "legislation that specifically protect unpaid workers against sexual harassment," ProPublica reported. California Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner introduced legislation in January to protect unpaid workers in the state, but that bill is still in committee.

The legislation was drafted in response to Manhattan Federal Court Judge Kevin Castel's decision to dismiss an unpaid intern's sexual harassment claim against her boss last October, ProPublica reported.

Lihuan Wang, 26, claimed her supervisor at Phoenix Satellite Television's New York bureau sexual grabbed her butt and tried to kiss her during an unpaid internship in 2010.

Castel tossed out the claim in October because unpaid interns do not count as employees and are not covered by the city's human rights law.

"Protection of employees does not extend to unpaid interns," Castel wrote Oct. 3.

This means that Wang and other unpaid interns could not sue over sexual harassment at work.

"We think it's a gigantic step forward," Vacca, the prime sponsor of the bill, told Newsweek. "I think it fills a hole that was as big as a Mack truck. The Wang decision really was an awakening for many of us."

Vacca said he expects Mayor Bill de Blasio to sign the bill within 10 days.

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