Cuomo proposes legislation to address gender wage gap
Bill would ban questions from employers about salary histories
Gov. Andrew Cuomo is proposing legislation that would ban questions to prospective employees about their salary history in order to bridge the gender wage gap in New York.
The announcement stems from a new report commissioned last year by the governor to review the causes and economic impact of the gender pay gap and identify policy solutions to end it. A main recommendation of the report was to prohibit questions about salary histories in order to halt the compounding nature of the gender pay gap.
"By banning salary history, we can break the weight of this unfair, unequal cycle and work to achieve fair pay for all women in this state," said Cuomo in a statement.
Last year the governor signed two executive orders that prohibited state entities from evaluating candidates based on their wage history and required state contractors to disclose data on the gender, race and ethnicity of employees. The proposed legislation would expand the prohibition on wage history questions to private employers.
Women in New York earn the equivalent of 89 cents to each dollar earned by men, according to the report by the state Department of Labor. This gap is the narrowest in the country.
The problem of pay disparity is worse for women of color, with African-American women paid the equivalent of 64 cents on the dollar and Hispanic or Latina women paid 55 cents on the dollar.