Senate Bill S5233

                                 BILL NUMBER:  S5233

 TITLE OF BILL :  An act to amend the executive law, in relation to
prohibiting employers from seeking salary history from prospective
employees

 PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL :

The purpose of this legislation is to prohibit employers from seeking
salary history from prospective employees.

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :

Section 1. Adds a new subdivision 20 to Section 296 of the Executive
Law. 20. (a) No employer, labor organization, employment agency or
licensing agency, or employees or agent shall: (i) rely on wage
history in determining wages unless voluntarily provided by the
prospective employee for their benefit; (ii) request or require a
prospective employee to disclose information about their wage history
as a condition of being interviewed; (iii) seek from any current or
former employer the previous wages of any prospective employee unless
a compensation offer has been made, and the prospective employee
provides wage information to support a wage higher than offered. The
employer shall not refuse to hire or retaliate against a prospective
employee based on their wage history or because they opposed any act
or practice made unlawful by this subdivision. (b) Violation of this
              

section is subject to a civil penalty of $5,000 for a first offense,
increased by an additional $1,000 for each subsequent offense, not to
exceed $10,000; and liable to each violated prospective employee their
attorneys' fees and special damages not to exceed $10,000, with an
action to recover the liability against any employer in any court of
competent jurisdiction. (c) The Department of Labor shall establish a
public awareness campaign informing employers in the state that is is
illegal to seek salary information from prospective employees.

Section 2. This act shall take effect on the 180 day after it shall
have become a law.

 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ORIGINAL AND AMENDED VERSION (IF APPLICABLE) :

This is not applicable at this time.

 JUSTIFICATION :

Despite numerous New York State legislative and executive protections,
the federal Equal Pay Act of 1963, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act
of 1964, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, and Title I
of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 that prohibit
discrimination in the payment of wages, there remains a very real and
pervasive pay gap that affects all women, and many minority and
disabled groups. The salary history inquiry, a longstanding bulwark of
employers and hiring managers during the job hiring process, is a
pervasive form of discrimination that is thought to be reasonable
without its initiators fully realizing its negative and biased effect.

A worker's salary history follows them throughout the course of their
career. Low pay at an earlier job can affect salary at a later one as
hiring managers often base their offers on previous wage compensation.
Even seasoned or strong negotiators will find themselves with lower
offers than individuals who earned more at an earlier position.
Historically, workers who receive lower offers are women and
minorities.

While many factors contribute to the gender pay gap, including
occupational segregation, patterns of work or even direct or indirect
discrimination, the disparity in earnings between women and men from
the 2015 U.S. Census Bureau is hard to ignore. U.S. women working full
time, year-round were paid just 80 percent of U.S. men's median
earnings - a gap of 20 percent. In New York, that number was slightly
better with an 89 percent median earnings ratio between genders - yet
a gap still remains and can hardly be considered equal pay for equal
work.

Although the gender pay gap has narrowed over time, according the
American Association of University Women (AAUW), women are not
expected to reach pay equity until 2059. If change continues at a
slower growth rate seen since 2001, the pay gap is not expected to
close until 2152.

Minority groups and people with disabilities face even larger pay
gaps. For women of color, African American women in New York earn on
average 66 cents on the dollar to non-Hispanic white men, while
Hispanic women earn just 56 cents comparably. Asian American women
fare better at 80 cents to that same dollar. However, the 2015
American Community Survey (ACS) by the U.S. Census Bureau found that
both women and men of most racial minority groups were paid
substantially less than non-Hispanic white workers. The ACS also shed
light on earnings of people with disabilities. Those with disabilities
made just 68 percent of what those without earned while within this
population subset, there exists a large gender pay gap - median pay
for women is 69 percent of that for men.

In the long-term, lower career wages result in an even greater
disparity in retirement income, namely through smaller Social Security
benefits which are calculated based on an individual's earning
history. Median income for women 65 years or older is 44 percent less
than the median income for men in the same age group.  Women who are
75 years or older are almost twice as likely as men to live in
poverty.

If this disparity begins at the onset of a career and is allowed to
perpetuate, then the pay gap itself will never be rectified. This
legislation would further protect prospective and current employees
throughout New York from intentional and unintentional discrimination
and would be a monumental move in the direction of pay equity for all.

 PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

This is new legislation.

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS :

There are no fiscal implications associated with the passage of this
legislation.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
This act shall take effect on the 180 day after it shall have become a
law.