Enacts the New York state fair pay act

Summary of specific provisions

Section 1: Creates a new Article 21 of the Labor Law.

§ 750 - Establishes that the bill shall be known as the "New York State Fair Pay Act".

§ 751 - Proclaims that wage differentials persist between women and men and minorities and non-minorities in both the public and private sector despite the implementation of present laws that ban discrimination in the workplace. It affirms that this bill would correct these discriminatory practices and ensure pay equity.

§ 752 - Defines the following terms: employ, employee, employer, equivalent jobs, person, labor organization, wages, and wage rates.

§ 753 - Establishes that it is an unlawful employment practice for an employe/ to discriminate between employees on the basis of sex, race, and or national origin in any of the following ways: engaging in differential pay between employees doing equivalent work but are of the opposite sex, different race or national origin or paying different wages to employees in a job dominated by a particular sex, race, or national origin than employees in another job owned by the same employer and doing equivalent work but are of the opposite sex or are of a different race or national origin. This section also establishes that it shall not be an unlawful employment practice for an employer to engage in differential pay if such payments are made pursuant to the following circumstances: a bona fide seniority or merit system; a bona fide system that measures earnings by quantity or quality of production; or a bona fide system based on geographic differentials. This section also establishes an exception for bona fide factors other than sex, race or national origin, such as education, training, or experience as long as such factor is not based on a sex, race, or national origin based differential and such factor shall be job-related and be consistent with business necessity; further, this exception does not apply if the employer. uses an employment practice that causes a disparate impact on the basis of sex, race, or national origin and if an alternative employment practice that would serve the same business purpose but would not produce such differential exists yet the employer fails to implement such alternative. Furthermore, this section prohibits employers from reducing an employee's wages in order to comply with the provisions of this section and ensures an employees' right to a cause of action regardless of any agreement to work for less than their entitled compensation and clarifies that this section shall not be understood to impede against any bona fide collective bargaining agreements. Lastly, this section requires the Department of Labor to promulgate regulations specifying the criteria for determining whether a job is

dominated by employees of a particular sex, race, or national origin and also requires regulations that would specify the methodology for determining equivalent skill, effort, responsibility, and working conditions.

§ 754 - Provides that it shall be an unlawful employment practice for an employer to take adverse actions or discriminate against an individual for seeking to enforce their rights under this article or for an employer to discharge, coerce, intimidate, threaten, or interfere with any employee or person who have discussed their wages with other employees or have exercised any rights granted under this article.

§ 755 - Authorizes the Department of Labor to receive, investigate, and attempt to resolve any complaints in violation of this article and requires that any equitable and monetary relief awarded shall be paid directly to the affected employee.

§ 756 - Authorizes the Department of Labor to promulgate any additional regulations deemed necessary to effectively carry out the provisions of this article.

Section 2: Effective Date

Justification

Pay equity has not been universally achieved in our state. Legislative hearings have consistently received testimony from women performing work equal to their male counterparts and being paid less for their labor. Present law does not adequately address the issue of pay inequity and the need for state enforcement of a prohibition on such inequities. The fact is that not only women but also minorities still earn less than white men for jobs that require the same skills, responsibilities, and working conditions which has resulted in a significant wage gap in earnings amongst these demographics. This bill would enhance present law to respond to the continuing pay inequity in our state and would ensure that the workers of the state of New York are able to enforce their right to equal pay without retaliation.

Prior legislative history

2014: A.5958 (Heastie) Advanced to Third Reading 2013: A.5958 (Heastie) Passed Assembly 2011-12: A.6130 (Wright) Passed Assembly 2009-10: A.3911 (John) Passed Assembly 2007-08: A.2712 (John) Passed Assembly

Fiscal implications for state and local governments

None to the State.

Effective date

This act shall take effect 120 days after enactment.