The PowHer New York Network and lead partners Legal Momentum, CWA Local 1180,  NELA/NY,  and Community Service Society commend New York City Council Majority Whip Selvena N. Brooks-Powers, alongside co-prime sponsor Majority Leader Amanda Farías, for introducing a Int 808 to amend the NYC’s Pay Transparency Law. Int. 808 will increase essential transparency and close loopholes in the current law.

In November 2022, New York City’s groundbreaking pay transparency law went into effect, requiring NYC employers with four or more employees to include a good faith salary range in all advertisements for a job, promotion, or transfer opportunity. This law, aimed at tackling the gender and racial pay gaps, forces employers to make their pay practices more open and equitable and gives workers much needed information and leverage in historically imbalanced salary negotiations.

More than a year has passed since the law went into effect. This period has seen broad compliance with the law but has also revealed important lessons about ways the law should be strengthened to accelerate closing the gender and racial pay gaps and encourage reluctant employers to embrace transparency rather than thwart it. Pay Transparency Factsheet

The proposed amendments would improve the current law in the following ways:

• Provide much needed clarity on how employers should determine the salary range included in job advertisements, in order to discourage the use of overbroad ranges and maintain transparency if employers pay outside the posted range.

• Enhance consistency with NYS requirements by mandating that employers disclose a job description alongside the range, which is critical in providing context to any pay range and in helping identify legitimate versus overbroad pay ranges.

• Ensure that broader forms of pay discrimination are accounted for by requiring employers to disclose not just base pay but any broader forms of compensation offered such as bonuses as well as core benefits, including health benefits, sick time, and paid family leave.

• Extend transparency requiring employers to disclose pay ranges not only to applicants but to existing employees upon request, but no more frequently than annually.

• Ensure transparency even among employers who choose not to post a job advertisement by mandating disclosure of the pay range to a candidate upon their request at any point during the hiring process.

We look forward to working with Council Member Brooks-Power, cCouncil Member Farias, and the City Council to get this bill enacted to accelerate our pace towards achieving meaningful pay equity in New York City and beyond.

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Beverly Neufeld, President, PowHer New York stated, “We commend NYC Council Member Selvena Brooks-Powers and Council Member Amanda Farias for proposing amendments to address flaws in the Pay Transparency Law. Now some companies are posting overly broad ranges, current employees are in the dark about their pay status, and salary range alone is being posted, not full compensation packages. The proposed changes which expand transparency and increase compliance will advance NYC’s goal of leveling the “paying field” to achieve economic well-being for women and families.”

Seher Khawaja, Director of Economic Justice & Deputy Legal Director, Legal Momentum said, ”In 2022, the New York City Council led the way in enacting essential pay transparency protections that brought us one step closer to achieving pay equity for women and people of color. Thanks to the leadership of Council Member Selvena Brooks-Powers, we are taking the next step. Building upon lessons learned, this bill will close problematic loopholes in our law and enhance transparency, further empowering workers to advocate for fair pay while motivating employers to pay more equitably.”

“New York has made great strides in recent years to strengthen and expand pay transparency. But despite strong pay equity laws, gender and racial wage gaps persist. Today, with legislation introduced by City Council Member Selvena Brooks-Powers, New York takes a crucial step forward in closing gaps in the current transparency laws and putting our city on a path toward  eliminating pay inequities holding back the economic potential of women and people of color. Along with  Council Member Brooks-Powers, we applaud Council Member Amanda Farias, co-prime sponsor of the legislation, Speaker Adams and the City Council for its leadership on this issue,” said David R. Jones, President and CEO of the Community Service Society of New York

NELA/NY Legislative Chair Miriam Clark stated, “This bill is crucial in assuring meaningful salary transparency, which in turn furthers broad goals of equal pay for all workers.”

“We have seen employers abide by the exact wording of the law but not the intent of the law, posting salary ranges that were shockingly disparate to the point of not being realistic,” said CWA Local 1180 President Gloria Middleton. “The law that was intended to help women does not go far enough to make a real difference. By strengthening the pay transparency law we have on the books will go a long way to making sure that there is a level paying field for more women. This will clarify what it means to list a true and accurate pay range in job postings.”

PowHer® New York is a statewide network of over 100 gender and racial justice organizations committed to accelerating economic equality for 10 million New York women and their families. Through collective action, we organize intersectional collaborations, educate the public about combating gender inequality, convene innovators and advocates to explore and develop new approaches and strategies, and work with legislators and business leaders on concrete solutions. The Equal Pay Campaign, PowHerNY’s signature project, leads the eighteen year fight to achieve pay equity that has resulted in groundbreaking legislation, a shift in culture and practice and a more equitable state for all workers.www.powherny.org info@powherny.org