Seeks to comply with the federal equal pay act of 1963 by implementing a state policy of compensating employees in state service equally for work of comparable value by eliminating wage inequality in job titles having been segregated by sex, race or national origin; requires the president of the civil service commission to report annually to the legislature and the governor on those segregated titles for which wage disparity exists; mandates governor to appropriate monies to ensure wage disparities are corrected.
STATE OF NEW YORK
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8293
2009-2010 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
May 13, 2009
___________
Introduced by M. of A. CARROZZA, P. RIVERA, PHEFFER -- Multi-Sponsored
by -- M. of A. ALFANO, BOYLAND -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Governmental Employees
AN ACT to amend the civil service law, in relation to implementing a
state policy of setting salaries on the basis of comparability of
value of the work
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 115 of the civil service law, as added by chapter
2 790 of the laws of 1958, is amended to read as follows:
3 § 115. Policy of the state. It is the policy of New York state to
4 comply with the letter and spirit of the federal "Equal Pay Act of
5 1963," Pub. L. 88-38 (29 U.S.C. § 206) which requires that employees of
6 both sexes receive equal pay for equal work, the federal "Civil Rights
7 Act of 1964," Pub. L. 88-352 (42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2) which prohibits
8 discrimination on the basis of sex, race, and national origin in all
9 terms of employment, section forty-c of the civil rights law, which
10 prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color, national
11 origin, sex, sexual orientation or marital status and article fifteen of
12 the executive law, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex,
13 race, sexual orientation or national origin in all terms of employment.
14 Consistent with these laws, it is the policy of the state to ensure a
15 fair, non-biased wage structure for its employees in which sex, race,
16 sexual orientation or national origin is not a consideration either
17 directly or indirectly in determining the proper compensation for a
18 title in state service, nor in determining the pay for any individual or
19 group of employees. In order to attract unusual merit and ability to
20 the service of the state of New York, to stimulate higher efficiency
21 among the personnel, to provide skilled leadership in administrative
22 departments, to reward merit and to insure to the people and the taxpay-
23 ers of the state of New York the highest return in services for the
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD10266-01-9
A. 8293 2
1 necessary costs of government, it is [hereby declared to be] the policy
2 of the state to provide equal pay for [equal] similar work and for work
3 of comparable value, and regular increases in pay in proper proportion
4 to increase of ability, increase of output and increase of quality of
5 work demonstrated in service.
6 § 2. Paragraph (c) of subdivision 1 of section 118 of the civil
7 service law, as added by chapter 790 of the laws of 1958, is amended to
8 read as follows:
9 (c) The principle of fair and equal pay for similar work and for work
10 of comparable value shall be followed in the classification and reclas-
11 sification and the allocation and reallocation of positions pursuant to
12 this article and all positions having the same title shall be allocated
13 to the same salary grade. Comparable value shall be determined by
14 comparing job titles on the basis of standards which include the compos-
15 ite of such basic elements of a job as the knowledge, skills, account-
16 ability, mental or physical stress and effort, extraordinary dangers and
17 responsibilities normally required to satisfactorily perform the job.
18 The principle of fair and equal pay for work of comparable value
19 requires that consideration of sex, race, sexual orientation or national
20 origin shall not influence directly or indirectly the establishment of
21 salaries.
22 § 3. The civil service law is amended by adding a new section 119 to
23 read as follows:
24 § 119. Comparability of value of work; segregated job titles reviewed
25 and adjusted. 1. The legislature finds that despite the policy of New
26 York state as declared in section one hundred fifteen of this article,
27 job titles which are segregated by sex, race, or national origin may
28 have been undervalued and assigned wages which do not reflect the rela-
29 tive worth of the job. It is the intent of the legislature to remedy
30 such undervaluation and to correct such disparities.
31 2. For purposes of this section segregated titles (X) means titles or
32 any class of titles in which the number of incumbents of a sex, race or
33 national origin is greater than the sum of the percentage of that sex,
34 race or national origin in the state service (P) plus twenty percent of
35 that percentage (.2(P)). This is represented by the formula (X = P +
36 .2(P)).
37 3. The president of the commission shall, by January first of each
38 year, submit to the legislature and the governor's office of employee
39 relations, a list showing, by negotiating unit and for
40 management/confidential employees, those segregated titles for which a
41 disparity exists based on the comparability of the value of the work.
42 Such president shall also submit to the legislature, the governor's
43 office of employee relations and the division of the budget along with
44 the list, an estimate of the appropriation necessary to correct such
45 disparities.
46 4. Beginning with the budget requests for the second fiscal year
47 commencing after the effective date of this section, the governor shall
48 include the appropriation necessary to ensure that salaries are set in
49 accordance with subdivision one of this section and section one hundred
50 fifteen, and paragraph (c) of subdivision one of section one hundred
51 eighteen of this article.
52 5. No salary shall be reduced to achieve comparable compensation under
53 the provisions of this section.
54 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
