Assemblywoman Inez Barron: Assembly Passes Pay Equity Legislative Package

Measures would end unfair wage gaps

April 11, 2011

Assemblywoman Inez Barron (D-Brooklyn) announced the Assembly passed a package of bills designed to end wage discrimination throughout the state. The legislation is accompanied by a resolution proclaiming April 12, 2011, as Equal Pay Day in New York State (K.365).

“In this day and age, it’s unacceptable that some New Yorkers still aren’t earning equal pay for equal work,” Assemblywoman Barron said. “That’s why the Assembly passed a package of bills – and has done so for over a decade – that aims to rid our state of this shameful problem.”

The legislative package passed by the Assembly would make it easier to enforce equal-pay policies and create a statewide comparable-salary policy. The bills would:

• make it a discriminatory practice to compensate employees of different sexes differently for work that is of comparable worth (A.3690);
• enact the New York State Fair Pay Act to address and enforce pay equity, including broadening equivalent job definitions, specifying methods to determine equivalent skill, making it unlawful for an employer to discriminate between employees on the basis of sex, race or national origin and ensuring traditional and minority jobs are not undervalued (A.6130);
• make it a discriminatory practice for public employers to compensate employees of different sexes differently for work that is of comparable worth (A.6448); and
• establish a statewide policy of equal pay for both sexes and comparability of value of work and ensure corrective action (A.1780).

“It’s inexcusable for New York – a state that historically has set the standards in equality leadership – to not have policies in place that grant equal pay for equal work,” Assemblywoman Barron said. “It’s plain and simple: Wages should be based on skill, effort and experience. Ending the antiquated and unreasonable wage gap is a responsibility New York must take seriously.”

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