Bill Text: NY S00838 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: 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.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-01-08 - REFERRED TO CIVIL SERVICE AND PENSIONS [S00838 Detail]

Download: New_York-2019-S00838-Introduced.html


                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                           838
                               2019-2020 Regular Sessions
                    IN SENATE
                                     January 9, 2019
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by  Sen.  MONTGOMERY  -- read twice and ordered printed, and
          when printed to be committed to the Committee  on  Civil  Service  and
          Pensions
        AN  ACT  to  amend  the civil service law, in relation to implementing a
          state policy of setting salaries on the basis of equivalent  value  of
          work
          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section 1.  Paragraph (c) of subdivision 1 of section 118 of the civil
     2  service law, as added by chapter 790 of the laws of 1958, is amended and
     3  three new paragraphs (d), (e) and (f) are added to read as follows:
     4    (c) The principle of fair and equal  pay  for  similar  work  and  for
     5  equivalent  value  of  work  shall be followed in the classification and
     6  reclassification and the allocation and reallocation of positions pursu-
     7  ant to this article and all positions having the  same  title  shall  be
     8  allocated to the same salary grade.  Equivalent value of work shall mean
     9  titles  or position classifications that are equal within the meaning of
    10  the Equal Pay Act of 1963, 29 U.S.C. 206(d), or titles or position clas-
    11  sifications that are dissimilar but whose requirements  are  equivalent,
    12  when viewed as a composite of skills, effort, responsibility and working
    13  conditions.  The principle of fair and equal pay for equivalent value of
    14  work requires that consideration of sex, race or national  origin  shall
    15  not influence directly or indirectly the establishment of compensation.
    16    (d) It shall not be an unlawful employment practice for an employer to
    17  pay  different  compensation  to employees, where such payments are made
    18  pursuant to:
    19    (1) a bona fide seniority or merit system;
    20    (2) a bona fide system that measures earnings by quantity  or  quality
    21  of production;
    22    (3) a bona fide system based on geographic differentials;
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD03288-01-9

        S. 838                              2
     1    (4)  any  other  bona  fide  factor  other  than sex, race or national
     2  origin, such as education, training, or  experience.  Such  factor:  (A)
     3  shall  not be based upon or derived from a sex, race, or national origin
     4  based differential in compensation and (B)  shall  be  job-related  with
     5  respect  to  the position in question and shall be consistent with busi-
     6  ness necessity. Such exception under this paragraph shall not apply when
     7  the employee demonstrates (i) that an employer uses a particular employ-
     8  ment practice that causes a disparate impact on the basis of sex,  race,
     9  or  national origin, (ii) that an alternative employment practice exists
    10  that would serve the same purpose and not produce such differential, and
    11  (iii) that the employer has refused to adopt such alternative practice.
    12    (e) For the purpose of paragraph (d) of  this  subdivision,  "business
    13  necessity"  shall be defined as a factor that bears a manifest relation-
    14  ship to the employment in question.
    15    (f) Nothing set forth in this section shall be  construed  to  impede,
    16  infringe  or  diminish the rights and benefits which accrue to employees
    17  through collective bargaining  agreements,  or  otherwise  diminish  the
    18  integrity of the existing collective bargaining relationship.
    19    §  2.  The civil service law is amended by adding a new section 119 to
    20  read as follows:
    21    § 119. Equivalent value of work; segregated job  titles  reviewed  and
    22  adjusted.  1.  The civil service commission shall promulgate regulations
    23  specifying the methodology for  determining  equivalent  value  of  work
    24  based  on  skill,  effort,  responsibility,  and working conditions. Any
    25  methodology prescribed by the commission, such  as  a  systematic  point
    26  factor  job  evaluation  system, shall ensure that comparison systems do
    27  not ignore or undervalue the worth of jobs where a certain sex, race, or
    28  national origin is disproportionately represented. For the  purposes  of
    29  this chapter, a segregated title shall constitute any title in which the
    30  total  percentage  of  employees  of  a particular sex, race or national
    31  origin in the title is equal to  or  greater  than  one  hundred  twenty
    32  percent  of  the  percentage of that sex, race or national origin in the
    33  employ of the state or the political subdivision. The department  shall,
    34  upon  the  request  of  any  local  civil service administration, render
    35  service or technical advice and  assistance  relative  to  the  position
    36  classification  and  pay  equity  compensation assessment of offices and
    37  employments under the jurisdiction of such local civil service  adminis-
    38  tration  pursuant  to  subdivision  one  of section twenty-three of this
    39  chapter.
    40    2. The president shall, by January first, two thousand twenty-one, and
    41  every five years thereafter, submit to the legislature  and  the  gover-
    42  nor's  office of employee relations, a list showing, by negotiating unit
    43  and for management/confidential employees, those segregated  titles  for
    44  which  a  disparity  exists based on the equivalent value of the work as
    45  that term is defined in paragraph (c) of subdivision one of section  one
    46  hundred  eighteen  of this title. The president shall also submit to the
    47  legislature, the governor's office of employee relations and  the  divi-
    48  sion  of  budget  along  with the list, an estimate of the appropriation
    49  necessary to correct such disparities. When the department  creates  new
    50  titles  or,  because of mergers or take-overs, transfers state workforce
    51  from one title to another title, the president shall re-submit such list
    52  of any segregated titles for which  a  disparity  exists  based  on  the
    53  equivalent value of work and shall submit to the legislature, the gover-
    54  nor's  office of employee relations and the division of budget with such
    55  list an estimate of the appropriation necessary to correct such dispari-
    56  ties.

        S. 838                              3
     1    3. By October first, two thousand twenty, and every five years  there-
     2  after, all local civil service administrations shall submit to the pres-
     3  ident  of  the  commission  a  list showing, by negotiating unit and for
     4  management/confidential employees, those segregated titles for  which  a
     5  disparity  exists  based on the equivalent value of the work. The presi-
     6  dent of the commission shall compile the lists provided to him or her by
     7  the local civil service administrations and, by January first, two thou-
     8  sand twenty-one, and every five years thereafter, submit to the legisla-
     9  ture and the governor's office of employee relations, a list showing, by
    10  negotiating unit and for management/confidential employees, those segre-
    11  gated titles for which a disparity exists based on the equivalent  value
    12  of the work as reported by the local civil service administrations. When
    13  a  local  civil service administration creates new titles or, because of
    14  mergers or take-overs, transfers workforce from  one  title  to  another
    15  title,  it  shall re-submit to the president of the commission a list of
    16  any segregated titles for which a disparity exists based on  the  equiv-
    17  alent value of work, who will then submit the list to the legislature.
    18    4.  Upon the discovery of the existence of segregated titles for which
    19  a disparity exists based on the equivalent value of work,  the  employer
    20  and  the  state civil service commission or local civil service adminis-
    21  tration, as applicable, shall correct the disparity.
    22    5. An employer who is in violation of paragraph (c) of subdivision one
    23  of section one hundred eighteen of this  title,  as  determined  by  the
    24  commission,  shall not, in order to comply with this section, reduce the
    25  compensation of any employee or reduce the compensation  for  any  posi-
    26  tion.
    27    6.  Beginning  with  the  budget  requests  for  the first fiscal year
    28  commencing after the effective date of this section, the governor  shall
    29  include  the  appropriation  necessary  to  ensure that compensation for
    30  state employees are set in accordance with section one  hundred  fifteen
    31  and  paragraph (c) of subdivision one of section one hundred eighteen of
    32  this title.
    33    § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
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