New York Assembly Attempts to Fix Gender Pay Discrepancies

The Democratic-led New York Assembly has approved four bills that seek to prohibit wage discrepancies between men, women, and minorities. The New York State Fair Pay Act (A6130A) would make it unlawful for employers to discriminate in wage rates between employees on the basis of sex, race, and/or national origin, and further would prohibit discrimination in wage rate between jobs predominantly staffed with minorities as compared to equivalent jobs predominantly staffed by non-minorities. (The job-equivalency comparisons would be determined by the Department of Labor, pursuant to regulation.) Bill A9623 would direct the president of the New York State Civil Service Commission to study and publish a report evaluating the extent of wage disparities in public sector job classifications based on gender, race, and/or national origin. Bills A6448 and A1780 would amend the civil service laws to ensure that public employees at the local and state level would be paid equally for work of equivalent value regardless of sex, race or national origin. These bills would need to pass the Republican-led Senate in order to make it to the Governor’s desk.