With your help we finally will get them passed in this legislative session. This bill intends to assure that public employees, regardless of sex, working in positions of comparable worth are paid the same. A recent public hearing held by a number of Assembly committees revealed troubling situations where women who were performing work comparable to their male counterparts were paid substantially less in salary. In particular, there was testimony that school nurses and secretaries were paid less than maintenance and grounds keepers of the same employer, that of the male staff. Salaries for positions of comparable worth must be comparable.
Discrimination based on stereotyped gender roles is inappropriate.
This legislation is needed to assure that pay equity in the public sector is achieved. Balboni A bill to amend S 297, executive law, directing the division of human rights to promulgate rules of practice to permit complaints filed with such division alleging unlawful discriminatory practices to be filed as class actions or to be consolidated. The Pay Equity bills were triggered by the dismissal of a most important pay equity test case in the State Division of Human Rights. The request for legislation made to Assemblyman Tom DiNapoli, chair of Government Operations, resulted in a public hearing in January 1998 addressed by more than 30 individuals and organizations. The four bills are a result of all the input gathered.