S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   1136
 
                        2019-2020 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             January 11, 2019
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by Sen. BENJAMIN -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Investigations and Govern-
   ment Operations
 
 AN ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to prohibiting  employers
   from seeking salary history from prospective employees

   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Legislative intent. The legislature hereby finds  that  New
 York should lead the nation in preventing wage discrimination.
   The  wage  gap  between  men  and  women is one of the oldest and most
 persistent effects of inequality between the sexes in the United States.
   The 1963 Equal Pay Act and the 1964 Civil Rights  Act  in  the  United
 States established the legal right to equal pay for equal work and equal
 opportunity. Yet half a century later, women are still subjected to wage
 gaps and paid less then men.
   The  concept  of  comparable worth attacks the problem of gender-based
 wage discrimination by mandating  that  jobs  characterized  by  similar
 levels of education, skill, effort, responsibilities, and working condi-
 tions  be compensated at similar wage levels regardless of the gender of
 the worker holding the job.
   The goal of pay equity is to raise the wages for undervalued jobs held
 predominantly by women.   Today, women make  only  77  cents  per  every
 dollar  earned  by  a  man for a comparable job, a gender wage gap of 23
 percent.
   This translates into thousands of dollars of lost wages each year  for
 each  female worker, money that helps them feed their families, save for
 a college education and afford decent and safe housing.
   Pay disparities affect women of all ages, races, and education levels,
 but are more pronounced for women  of  color.  Minority  women  make  as
 little as 54 cents per dollar for a comparable job held by a man.
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD03224-02-9
              

 S. 1136                             2
 
   Female-dominated  jobs pay twenty to thirty percent less than male-do-
 minated jobs classified as comparable in worth and more than one half of
 all women work in jobs that are over seventy percent female.
   Women are more likely to enter poverty in old age for several reasons:
 A  lifetime  of  lower  wages  means  women have less income to save for
 retirement, and less income that counts  in  their  Social  Security  or
 pension benefit formula.
   The  current  life expectancy for women means they will, on an average
 of three years, outlive men. Yet they will have to stretch their retire-
 ment savings, which are less to begin with,  over  a  longer  period  of
 time.
   The  existence  of  pay inequity is a manifestation of deep-seated sex
 discrimination that prevents both equality of pay for women and equality
 of opportunity for both sexes.
   More women in the United States  are  obtaining  college  degrees  and
 increasing  their  participation  in the labor force and family-friendly
 legislation, including the Equal Pay Act, Family and Medical Leave  Act,
 and  Pregnancy  Discrimination  Act,  and policies such as flex time and
 telecommuting, have increased options to create a win-win situation  for
 women and their employers.
   Despite  the  progress,  women  continue to suffer the consequences of
 inequitable pay differentials: in  2010,  the  average  college-educated
 woman  working full-time earned $47,000 a year compared to $64,000 for a
 college-educated man.
   During 2012, median weekly earnings for female full-time workers  were
 $691,  compared  with  $854  per  week  for men, a gender wage gap of 19
 percent.
   Fair pay strengthens the security of families and eases future retire-
 ment costs while also strengthening the American economy.  In  order  to
 achieve fair pay, policymakers must enact laws that prevent gender based
 wage discrimination from when women enter the labor force.
   In  order  to  do  so,  it is necessary to prevent employers to base a
 woman's pay based on her  previous  pay  history.  Because  the  pay  is
 already  based  on  gender  discrimination,  allowing  pay history to be
 requested by employers is equivalent to maintaining a standard of  lower
 pay  for  women performing similar jobs as men.  This practice of asking
 for pay history must be outlawed.
   § 2. Section 296 of the executive law  is  amended  by  adding  a  new
 subdivision 19-a to read as follows:
   19-A.  (A)  IT  SHALL  BE  AN  UNLAWFUL DISCRIMINATORY PRACTICE OF ANY
 EMPLOYER, PROSPECTIVE EMPLOYER, LABOR ORGANIZATION, EMPLOYMENT AGENCY OR
 LICENSING AGENCY, OR EMPLOYEES OR  AGENTS  THEREOF,  TO  SEEK  A  SALARY
 HISTORY  FROM  A PROSPECTIVE EMPLOYEE FOR AN INTERVIEW OR AS A CONDITION
 FOR EMPLOYMENT.
   (B) AN EMPLOYEE OR PROSPECTIVE EMPLOYEE MAY PROVIDE A  SALARY  HISTORY
 ONLY FOR THE PURPOSES OF NEGOTIATING AN ADVANCED SALARY.
   (C)  A  PROSPECTIVE  EMPLOYER  MAY ONLY CONFIRM A SALARY HISTORY AFTER
 OBTAINING WRITTEN AUTHORIZATION BY THE  PROSPECTIVE  EMPLOYEE  AND  SUCH
 PROSPECTIVE EMPLOYER MUST PRESERVE PROOF OF THAT AUTHORIZATION.
   §  3.  The department of labor, in conjunction with the New York state
 division of  human  rights,  shall  (a)  establish  a  public  awareness
 campaign, available on their respective websites, informing employers in
 the state that it is illegal to seek salary information from prospective
 employees;  and  (b)  collect  complaints  of  violations of section two
 hundred ninety-six of the executive law through their  toll  free  tele-
 phone number and provide data regarding the number of complaints and the

 S. 1136                             3
 
 regions  of  the  state  where  the  complaints  originate  in an annual
 required reporting on labor and human rights law violations.
   §  4.  This  act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
 have become a law.