Rockland Lawmakers Support State Bill On Salary History

From the Rockland County Legislature

Rockland County Legislators are calling upon the state Legislature to make it unlawful for would-be employers to obtain a prospective employee’s wage or salary history.

Legislators voted 14-0 April 17 to request the state Senate pass bill S.6737A to amend state Labor Law and put the new rules in place. The Assembly passed the measure April 16. The sponsors of the local resolution are Legislators Harriet Cornell, Nancy Low-Hogan, Jay Hood, Ilan Schoenberger and Alden H. Wolfe.

Rockland County is busy finalizing a new law that would address the issue, but such a law would only apply to local employers. Cornell and Low-Hogan said pay equity must also be addressed statewide, and eventually, nationally.

“From the time women are first hired, they typically start earning less than their male counterparts,” Legislator Cornell said. “This unfair wage division follows women throughout their working years and can therefore also affect their retirement years, as well. Banning this discriminatory salary history practice should be the first step in enforcing equal pay laws passed by the federal government almost 50 years ago.”

The state bill would prohibit employers from seeking the salary history of prospective employees. Specifically, employers would not be allowed to ask would-be employees for their wage or salary history as a requirement for a job interview, job application, job offer, or promotion.

“It’s unfortunate that the laws already in place don’t go far enough,” Legislator Low-Hogan said. “When a potential employer obtains the salary history of a prospective employee, that would-be employer is paying a salary based on past experiences instead of the person’s current skills and qualifications. This practice is a root cause of continued wage inequality.”

Cornell and Low-Hogan said the situation can also affect older workers who are looking to change jobs or careers. Such workers could be disqualified by potential employers because they earned a higher salary than the employer is looking to pay.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed an executive order last year barring the state from making wage history queries. Westchester County Executive George Latimer signed a local law banning the queries on April 10.

The 1963 Equal Pay Act, the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 established the legal right for equal pay for equal work. Yet women and people of color continue to endure wage gaps.

In 2016, full-time working women earned 82 percent of what full-time working men earned, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The gaps are far wider for women of color, with Latina women earning just 54 percent of what white men earned and black and African-American women earning just 63 percent of what white men earned, according to the AAUW’s 2016 report, The Simple Truth about the Gender Pay Gap.

“If a person – woman or man, white or of color – has the same skillset and qualifications, they deserve to be paid the same for doing the same job,” Legislator Cornell said. “It is past time to close this insidious pay gap.”

PHOTO: Nancy Low-Hogan/ Rockland County Legislature