2023 New York Laws › CVS - Civil Service › Article 8 - Classification and Compensation of State Employees › Title A - Classification and Allocation of Positions › 115 - Policy of the State.

§ 115. Policy  of  the state. 1. In order to attract unusual merit and
ability to the service of the state of New York and  all  its  political
subdivisions,  to  stimulate  higher  efficiency among the personnel, to
provide skilled leadership  in  administrative  departments,  to  reward
merit  and to insure to the people and the taxpayers of the state of New
York  the  highest  return  in  services  for  the  necessary  costs  of
government,  it is hereby declared to be the policy of the state and all
its political subdivisions thereof, consistent with  the  federal  Equal
Pay  Act  of  1963  (29  U.S.C. § 206), the federal Civil Rights Act (42
U.S.C. § 2000e-2), article fifteen of the  executive  law,  and  section
forty-c   of  the  civil  rights  law,  to  ensure  a  fair,  non-biased
compensation structure for all employees in which status within  one  or
more  protected  class  or  classes is not considered in determining the
proper compensation for a title  or  in  determining  the  pay  for  any
individual or group of employees, to ensure that no employee with status
within  one or more protected class or classes shall be paid a wage at a
rate less than the rate at which an employee without status  within  the
same  protected  class  or classes in the same establishment is paid for
similar work or  substantially  similar  work  and  to  provide  regular
increases  in  pay in proper proportion to increase of ability, increase
of output and increase of quality of work demonstrated in service.
2. For the purpose of this section:
(a) the term "protected  class"  includes  age,  race,  creed,  color,
national  origin,  sexual  orientation,  gender  identity or expression,
military status, sex, disability, predisposing genetic  characteristics,
familial status, marital status, or domestic violence victim status, and
any  employee protected from discrimination pursuant to paragraphs a, b,
and c of subdivision one  of  section  two  hundred  ninety-six  of  the
executive  law, and any intern protected from discrimination pursuant to
section two hundred ninety-six-c of the executive law.
(b) the term "compensation" shall include but not be limited  to:  all
earnings  of  an  employee for labor or services rendered, regardless of
whether the amount of earnings is paid  on  an  annual  salary,  hourly,
biweekly  or per diem basis; reimbursement for expenses; health, welfare
and retirement benefits; and  vacation  pay,  sick  pay,  separation  or
holiday pay, or any other form of remuneration.
(c) employees shall be deemed to work in the same establishment if the
employees  work  for the same employer at workplaces located in the same
geographical region, no  larger  than  a  county,  taking  into  account
population  distribution,  economic  activity,  and/or  the  presence of
municipalities.
3. (a) It shall not be a violation of this section for an employer  to
pay  different  compensation  to employees, where such payments are made
pursuant to:
(1) a bona fide seniority or merit system;
(2) a bona fide system that measures earnings by quantity  or  quality
of production;
(3) a bona fide system based on geographic differentials;
(4)  any  other  bona fide factor other than status within one or more
protected class or classes, such as education, training, or  experience.
Such  factor: (A) shall not be based upon or derived from a differential
in compensation based on status within one or more  protected  class  or
classes;  and  (B)  shall be job-related with respect to the position in
question and shall be consistent with business necessity. Such exception
under this paragraph shall not apply when the employee demonstrates  (i)
that  an  employer  uses  a particular employment practice that causes a
disparate impact on the basis of status within  one  or  more  protected
class  or  classes,  (ii) that an alternative employment practice exists

that would serve the same purpose and not produce such differential, and
(iii) that the employer has refused to adopt such alternative  practice;
or
(5) a collective bargaining agreement.
(b)  For  the  purpose of paragraph (a) of this subdivision, "business
necessity"  shall  be  defined  as  a  factor  that  bears  a   manifest
relationship to the employment in question.
(c)  Nothing  set  forth in this section shall be construed to impede,
infringe or diminish the rights and benefits which accrue  to  employees
through  collective  bargaining  agreements,  or  otherwise diminish the
integrity of the existing collective bargaining relationship.