Bill Text: NY A00658 | 2017-2018 | General Assembly | Introduced

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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; 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.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 31-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2018-04-16 - REFERRED TO CIVIL SERVICE AND PENSIONS [A00658 Detail]

Download: New_York-2017-A00658-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                           658
                               2017-2018 Regular Sessions
                   IN ASSEMBLY
                                     January 9, 2017
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by  M.  of  A.  ROSENTHAL, JAFFEE, PAULIN, GOTTFRIED, GALEF,
          WEPRIN,  HEVESI,  ENGLEBRIGHT,  SKOUFIS,  CRESPO,  STECK,   SKARTADOS,
          STIRPE,  SOLAGES,  OTIS, WALKER, COLTON, M. G. MILLER, JENNE -- Multi-
          Sponsored by -- M. of A.   BUCHWALD, COOK, DINOWITZ,  FARRELL,  GLICK,
          LUPARDO,  PERRY  -- read once and referred to the Committee on Govern-
          mental Employees
        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;
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD01714-01-7
        A. 658                              2
     1    (2)  a  bona fide system that measures earnings by quantity or quality
     2  of production;
     3    (3) a bona fide system based on geographic differentials;
     4    (4)  any  other  bona  fide  factor  other  than sex, race or national
     5  origin, such as education, training, or  experience.  Such  factor:  (A)
     6  shall  not be based upon or derived from a sex, race, or national origin
     7  based differential in compensation and (B)  shall  be  job-related  with
     8  respect  to  the position in question and shall be consistent with busi-
     9  ness necessity. Such exception under this paragraph shall not apply when
    10  the employee demonstrates (i) that an employer uses a particular employ-
    11  ment practice that causes a disparate impact on the basis of sex,  race,
    12  or  national origin, (ii) that an alternative employment practice exists
    13  that would serve the same purpose and not produce such differential, and
    14  (iii) that the employer has refused to adopt such alternative practice.
    15    (e) For the purpose of paragraph (d) of  this  subdivision,  "business
    16  necessity"  shall be defined as a factor that bears a manifest relation-
    17  ship to the employment in question.
    18    (f) Nothing set forth in this section shall be  construed  to  impede,
    19  infringe  or  diminish the rights and benefits which accrue to employees
    20  through collective bargaining  agreements,  or  otherwise  diminish  the
    21  integrity of the existing collective bargaining relationship.
    22    §  2.  The civil service law is amended by adding a new section 119 to
    23  read as follows:
    24    § 119. Equivalent value of work; segregated job  titles  reviewed  and
    25  adjusted.    The  civil  service commission shall promulgate regulations
    26  specifying the methodology for  determining  equivalent  value  of  work
    27  based  on  skill,  effort,  responsibility,  and working conditions. Any
    28  methodology prescribed by the commission, such  as  a  systematic  point
    29  factor  job  evaluation  system, shall ensure that comparison systems do
    30  not ignore or undervalue the worth of jobs where a certain sex, race, or
    31  national origin is disproportionately represented. For the  purposes  of
    32  this chapter, a segregated title shall constitute any title in which the
    33  total  percentage  of  employees  of  a particular sex, race or national
    34  origin in the title is equal to  or  greater  than  one  hundred  twenty
    35  percent  of  the  percentage of that sex, race or national origin in the
    36  employ of the state or the political subdivision. The department  shall,
    37  upon  the  request  of  any  local  civil service administration, render
    38  service or technical advice and  assistance  relative  to  the  position
    39  classification  and  pay  equity  compensation assessment of offices and
    40  employments under the jurisdiction of such local civil service  adminis-
    41  tration  pursuant  to  subdivision  one  of section twenty-three of this
    42  chapter.
    43    2. The president shall, by January first, two thousand  nineteen,  and
    44  every  five  years  thereafter, submit to the legislature and the gover-
    45  nor's office of employee relations, a list showing, by negotiating  unit
    46  and  for  management/confidential employees, those segregated titles for
    47  which a disparity exists based on the equivalent value of  the  work  as
    48  that  term is defined in paragraph (c) of subdivision one of section one
    49  hundred eighteen of this title. The president shall also submit  to  the
    50  legislature,  the  governor's office of employee relations and the divi-
    51  sion of budget along with the list, an  estimate  of  the  appropriation
    52  necessary  to  correct such disparities. When the department creates new
    53  titles or, because of mergers or take-overs, transfers  state  workforce
    54  from one title to another title, the president shall re-submit such list
    55  of  any  segregated  titles  for  which  a disparity exists based on the
    56  equivalent value of work and shall submit to the legislature, the gover-
        A. 658                              3
     1  nor's office of employee relations and the division of budget with  such
     2  list an estimate of the appropriation necessary to correct such dispari-
     3  ties.
     4    3. By October first, two thousand eighteen, and every five years ther-
     5  eafter,  all  local  civil  service  administrations shall submit to the
     6  president of the commission a list showing, by negotiating unit and  for
     7  management/confidential  employees,  those segregated titles for which a
     8  disparity exists based on the equivalent value of the work.  The  presi-
     9  dent of the commission shall compile the lists provided to him or her by
    10  the local civil service administrations and, by January first, two thou-
    11  sand  nineteen,  and every five years thereafter, submit to the legisla-
    12  ture and the governor's office of employee relations, a list showing, by
    13  negotiating unit and for management/confidential employees, those segre-
    14  gated titles for which a disparity exists based on the equivalent  value
    15  of the work as reported by the local civil service administrations. When
    16  a  local  civil service administration creates new titles or, because of
    17  mergers or take-overs, transfers workforce from  one  title  to  another
    18  title,  it  shall re-submit to the president of the commission a list of
    19  any segregated titles for which a disparity exists based on  the  equiv-
    20  alent value of work, who will then submit the list to the legislature.
    21    4.  Upon the discovery of the existence of segregated titles for which
    22  a disparity exists based on the equivalent value of work,  the  employer
    23  and  the  state civil service commission or local civil service adminis-
    24  tration, as applicable, shall correct the disparity.
    25    5. An employer who is in violation of paragraph (c) of subdivision one
    26  of section one hundred eighteen of this  title,  as  determined  by  the
    27  commission,  shall not, in order to comply with this section, reduce the
    28  compensation of any employee or reduce the compensation  for  any  posi-
    29  tion.
    30    6.  Beginning  with  the  budget  requests  for  the first fiscal year
    31  commencing after the effective date of this section, the governor  shall
    32  include  the  appropriation  necessary  to  ensure that compensation for
    33  state employees are set in accordance with section one  hundred  fifteen
    34  and  paragraph (c) of subdivision one of section one hundred eighteen of
    35  this title.
    36    § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.