What's happening
This bill requires New York State to ensure fair, non-biased pay by evaluating and correcting wage disparities for work of comparable value, especially in job titles segregated by sex, race, or national origin.
Why it matters
Mandates systematic review and correction of pay disparities. by requiring annual reports identifying job titles that are “segregated” by sex, race, or national origin and that show pay gaps for work of comparable value—putting active responsibility on the state to address and fix these inequities.
Defines “work of comparable value” using clear, job-based criteria. (knowledge, skills, accountability, stress, effort, dangers, responsibilities), ensuring that wage comparisons are made on substantive job characteristics rather than just job titles, which may help address undervaluation in fields traditionally dominated by women or minorities.
Ties budget appropriations to pay equity goals. by requiring the governor to include necessary funding in state budgets to correct identified wage disparities, making financial commitment to equal pay a recurring and enforceable part of state operations.
Protects current employees from pay cuts. by explicitly stating that no one’s salary will be reduced to achieve pay equity, focusing adjustments on raising underpaid positions rather than lowering higher ones—helping to prevent backlash and maintain workforce morale.
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Who cares
State employees in segregated job titles
The bill would require identification and correction of pay disparities in titles disproportionately held by employees of a particular sex, race or national origin, without reducing any salary.
Civil Service Commission president
The bill would require annual lists of segregated titles with comparable-value pay disparities and estimates of the funding needed to correct them.
State employee unions and management/confidential employees
The bill would require pay-disparity findings to be reported by negotiating unit and for management/confidential employees, using job-value standards such as skills, responsibilities and stress.
Governor’s office of employee relations and Division of the Budget
They would receive disparity-correction cost estimates, and the governor would have to include necessary funding beginning with budget requests for the second fiscal year commencing after the bill takes effect.
Headline styles
Ensure Equal Pay for All
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
2 Multi-sponsors
History
- Referred to governmental employees
- Referred to governmental employees
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
4021
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 31, 2019
Introduced by M. of A. WEPRIN -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. JAFFEE, RIVERA -- read once and referred to the Committee on Governmental Employees
AN ACT to amend the civil service law, in relation to implementing a state policy of setting salaries on the basis of comparability of value of the work
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Section 115 of the civil service law, as added by chapter 790 of the laws of 1958, is amended to read as follows:
§ 115. Policy of the state. It is the policy of New York state to comply with the letter and spirit of the federal "Equal Pay Act of 1963," Pub. L. 88-38 (29 U.S.C. § 206) which requires that employees of both sexes receive equal pay for equal work, the federal "Civil Rights Act of 1964," Pub. L. 88-352 (42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2) which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, race, and national origin in all terms of employment, section forty-c of the civil rights law, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation or marital status and article fifteen of the executive law, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, race, sexual orientation or national origin in all terms of employment. Consistent with these laws, it is the policy of the state to ensure a fair, non-biased wage structure for its employees in which sex, race, sexual orientation or national origin is not a consideration either directly or indirectly in determining the proper compensation for a title in state service, nor in determining the pay for any individual or group of employees. In order to attract unusual merit and ability to the service of the state of New York, to stimulate higher efficiency among the personnel, to provide skilled leadership in administrative departments, to reward merit and to insure to the people and the taxpayers of the state of New York the highest return in services for the
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD08386-01-9
A. 4021 2
necessary costs of government, it is [hereby declared to be] the policy of the state to provide equal pay for [equal] similar work and for work of comparable value, and regular increases in pay in proper proportion to increase of ability, increase of output and increase of quality of work demonstrated in service.
§ 2. Paragraph (c) of subdivision 1 of section 118 of the civil service law, as added by chapter 790 of the laws of 1958, is amended to read as follows:
(c) The principle of fair and equal pay for similar work and for work of comparable value shall be followed in the classification and reclassification and the allocation and reallocation of positions pursuant to this article and all positions having the same title shall be allocated to the same salary grade. Comparable value shall be determined by comparing job titles on the basis of standards which include the composite of such basic elements of a job as the knowledge, skills, accountability, mental or physical stress and effort, extraordinary dangers and responsibilities normally required to satisfactorily perform the job. The principle of fair and equal pay for work of comparable value requires that consideration of sex, race, sexual orientation or national origin shall not influence directly or indirectly the establishment of salaries.
§ 3. The civil service law is amended by adding a new section 119 to read as follows:
§ 119. Comparability of value of work; segregated job titles reviewed and adjusted. 1. The legislature finds that despite the policy of New York state as declared in section one hundred fifteen of this article, job titles which are segregated by sex, race, or national origin may have been undervalued and assigned wages which do not reflect the relative worth of the job. It is the intent of the legislature to remedy such undervaluation and to correct such disparities.
2. For purposes of this section segregated titles (X) means titles or any class of titles in which the number of incumbents of a sex, race or national origin is greater than the sum of the percentage of that sex, race or national origin in the state service (P) plus twenty percent of that percentage (.2(P)). This is represented by the formula (X = P + .2(P)).
3. The president of the commission shall, by January first of each year, submit to the legislature and the governor's office of employee relations, a list showing, by negotiating unit and for management/confidential employees, those segregated titles for which a disparity exists based on the comparability of the value of the work. Such president shall also submit to the legislature, the governor's office of employee relations and the division of the budget along with the list, an estimate of the appropriation necessary to correct such disparities.
4. Beginning with the budget requests for the second fiscal year commencing after the effective date of this section, the governor shall include the appropriation necessary to ensure that salaries are set in accordance with subdivision one of this section and section one hundred fifteen, and paragraph (c) of subdivision one of section one hundred eighteen of this article.
5. No salary shall be reduced to achieve comparable compensation under the provisions of this section.
§ 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.