Advocates Celebrate the Passage of a Statewide Salary Range Disclosure bill
Calls for Governor Hochul to Swiftly Sign bill
Albany, New York: As the legislative session ended, the NYS Senate and Assembly took far-reaching action to address wage inequality with the passage of a statewide Salary Range Disclosure bill. The Ramos S.9427A/Joyner A.10477 bill mirrors the recent historic NYC law (LL59 – Int. 134A), thereby extending wage transparency to workers across NY.
Advocates thanked the bill sponsors, Senator Jessica Ramos and Assembly member Latoya Joyner, for their efforts to pass this bill and their ongoing commitment to wage equity. We urge Governor Kathy Hochul to sign the bill into law immediately and help New York workers, especially those struggling from the pandemic, gain more equitable pay.
Advocates and leaders vow to push for expanded information sharing and transparency in wage setting, but this law is an important next step by the New York State legislature to address persistent and intractable wage disparities experienced by women, especially women of color, who still earn between 55 cents and 65 cents as compared to white, non Hispanic men.
When it goes into effect, the bill will mandate that employers with four or more employees list salary ranges in all advertisements for job opportunities, transfers, and promotions. It also requires employers to disclose a job description, if one exists, and maintain records. The NYS Department of Labor will oversee rulemaking, enforcement and complaints.
The law will provide jobseekers with the information needed to negotiate fairer salaries and help businesses efficiently hire and retain the best talent that matches their needs. As business responds to the “Great ReShuffling,” pay transparency is a benefit that will attract workers. According to a Glassdoor survey, “nearly 2 in 3 employees (63%) prefer to work at a company that discloses pay information over one that does not.”
CWA Local 1180, Legal Momentum, and NELA/NY, with PowHer New York led this effort. Passage of this statewide law marks another success in a 16-year equal pay campaign, driven by PowHerTMNew York’s network of 100+ organizations, to address and close the gender and racial wage gap that has robbed workers and families of wages and perpetuates cycles of poverty and economic insecurity. Prior pay equity reforms include the NYS salary history ban, expansion of equal pay for substantially similar work, protections from retaliation for workers who share salary information, and an EO on NYS contractor equal pay data reporting.
QUOTES:
“Coming from the labor movement, I know that the best defense against race and gender-based wage inequality is a collective bargaining agreement. Until that time when every worker has a union fighting for their wages, however, this bill will empower workers with the information they need to get equal pay for equal work,” said Jessica Ramos, Senate sponsor of the bill and chair of the Senate Labor Committee.
Beverly Neufeld, President of PowHer New York said, “We applaud the tenacious sponsors of the Salary Range Disclosure bill, Senator Ramos and Assembly member Joyner, and leaders of the legislature for passing this bill which will change practice and culture in hiring. Knowing salary ranges provides workers with critical information to negotiate for fairer wages. This transparency is a tool to close the gender and racial wage gap and help struggling workers who are dealing with the disastrous effects of the pandemic and inflation.”
Gloria Middleton, President of CWA Local 1180, said this bill is another step in closing the wage discrepancies that exist between the genders. “What started with our union’s successful lawsuit against the City of New York for blatant and unconscionable wage discrimination against women and women of color doing substantially similar work as white men has now turned into lawmakers finally realizing that something must be done legislatively to level the paying field for 50% of the workforce population. Women notoriously sell themselves short on job interviews in order just to get the job when in fact, they are worth much more financially then they give themselves credit for.”
Miriam Clark, Chair of NELA/NY’s Legislative Committee stated, “This bill will be a significant first step toward pay transparency, which in turn is the most important tool for eliminating the pernicious wage gap that suppresses the earnings of women and especially women of color. We are grateful to Senate Ramos and Assembly Member Joyner for their sponsorship of this legislation.
“We applaud Assembly Member Joyner and Senator Ramos for their leadership in pushing through this critical piece of pay transparency legislation, which builds upon our success in New York City and brings New York State one step closer towards securing more equitable pay practices for all New Yorkers. From young women of color entering the workforce to older women who have been underpaid for decades, this bill will play an important role in alleviating discrimination and inequity, particularly for many whose work has been undervalued for too long,” said Seher Khawaja, Senior Attorney at Legal Momentum.
NY State should be proud to join a growing cadre of worker-forward states that require disclosures about salary ranges. Despite the myth that these matters should be held in secret, decades of research have proven that the more transparent companies are about human capital matters, the better they do. This is beneficial for all stakeholders – companies, employees, communities, investors,” said University professor, author, and human capital expert,” said Solange Charas, Ph.D.
“We are greatly encouraged to see the New York state legislature taking an important step towards greater pay transparency. Including salary ranges in job postings is a crucial tool for closing gender and racial wage gaps that benefits both employees and employers by ensuring candidates are paid fairly, helping attract and retain talent, and saving everyone time in the hiring process. We are excited to see New York join the quickly growing movement of states requiring these baseline equal pay protections,” said Andrea Johnson, National Women’s Law Center
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