by Emily Scace, JD, Brightmine Senior Legal Editor
Large employers in New York City will soon be required to submit pay and demographic information to the city, after the New York City Council voted to enact a pay data reporting law over a mayoral veto.
The pay data reporting bill first passed the New York City Council in October, but Mayor Eric Adams vetoed it in November, citing flaws with its approach and “serious operational concerns for the City agency ultimately charged with carrying out the required data collection and enforcement.”
On December 5, the New York City Council voted to override Adams’s veto.
Local Law No. 173 will require private employers with 200 or more employees in New York City to submit pay, demographic and job category information to a designated city agency on an annual basis. Employers will have the option to submit the information anonymously.
Although the law takes immediate effect, compliance deadlines for affected employers are likely at least a year away. Pay data reporting is not slated to begin until:
- The mayor designates an agency to conduct a pay equity study of the private workforce and create a system to collect the required pay information; and
- The designated agency develops a standardized fillable form for employers to submit the required information.
The initial deadline for employers to submit pay data reports will be no later than one year after the designated agency publishes the reporting form.
A companion law, Local Law No. 174, directs the designated agency to analyze the submitted data for pay disparities based on gender, race or ethnicity, and identify the industries where these disparities are most prevalent.
“We have been talking about the gender pay gap for decades, but without knowing how it breaks down from job to job, industry to industry, corporation to corporation, we can’t know how best to tackle it,” said Council Member Tiffany Cabán. “These bills are about accountability and equity for New Yorkers, especially the women and people of color who have been underpaid and undervalued for generations.”
Employers that fail to comply will face civil penalties of up to $1,000 for a first offense and up to $5,000 for any subsequent offense. For a first offense, employers will receive a written warning and have an opportunity to avoid penalties by providing evidence of compliance within 30 days.
California and Illinois have similar pay data reporting requirements.
You may also be interested in…
About the author
Emily Scace, JD
Senior Legal Editor, Brightmine
Emily Scace has more than a decade of experience in legal publishing. As a member of the Brightmine editorial team, she covers topics including employment discrimination and harassment, pay equity, pay transparency and recruiting and hiring.
Emily holds a Juris Doctor from the University of Connecticut School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts in English and psychology from Northwestern University. Prior to joining Brightmine, she was a senior content specialist at Simplify Compliance. In that role, she covered a variety of workplace health and safety topics, was the editor of the OSHA Compliance Advisor newsletter, and frequently delivered webinars on key issues in workplace safety.
See our extensive HR resources and expertise
In an ever-changing regulatory environment, we have everything you need to stay in control and compliant.