NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A8449
SPONSOR: Paulin TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the business corporation law and the limited liability
company law, in relation to requiring certain companies and corporations
to report certain data regarding the gender, race and ethnicity of their
employees
PURPOSE:
To provide data to the public about the gender, ethnicity, and race of
companies' employees.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section one adds a new paragraph (e) to the business corporation law to
require corporations which are required to file an Employer Information
report EEO-1 with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
(EEOC) to file substantially similar information with the New York
Secretary of State. The Secretary of State shall publish the data on its
official website within 90 days of receipt or as soon thereafter as
practicable.
Section two amends paragraph 1 of subdivision (e) of section 301 of the
limited liability company law to require limited liability companies
which are required to file an Employer Information report EEO-1 with the
federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to file substan-
tially similar information with the New York Secretary of State. The
Secretary of State shall publish the data on its official website within
90 days of receipt or as soon thereafter as practicable.
Section three provides the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
In recent years, consumers have become more interested in supporting
companies that share their values. Investors are also increasingly
concerned with companies' environmental, social, and governance (ESG)
standards when they make investment decisions. In response, companies
often tout their commitment to diversity, equity & inclusion (DEI),
environmental goals, or other causes, but there is little data available
to the public to verify these claims.
In addition, current and prospective employees have an interest in eval-
uating the DEI practices of employers, but do not have access to the
company-wide employee demographic data needed to make such an assess-
ment.
This bill would require those companies which are required to file an
Employer Information report EEO-1 with the federal Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to file substantially similar information
with the New York Secretary of State. The EEO-1 form is required for all
private sector employers with 100 or more employees and federal contrac-
tors with 50 or more employees, and contains demographic workforce data,
including data by race/ethnicity, sex and job categories. The Secretary
of State would post this information on its website, making it easily
available to the public.
Having this data publicly available will help create an environment
where we hold our companies accountable, provide consumers and employees
with the data to make good decisions, and provide investors with the
information to deploy capital in a manner in keeping with their values.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
