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Gov. Cuomo Signs "Women's Equality Agenda" Legislation into Law

nysimage National Law Review Under the amended law, employers cannot base or derive any pay differential a sex-based differential in compensation.  Differentials  must be job-related with respect to the position in question and must be consistent with business necessity. Should there be a pay differential, it can only be based on a bona fide factor other than sex, like education, training or experience.  However, even if an employer follows all these factors, an employee can still bring a claim against them if a particular employment practice still causes a disparate impact on the basis of sex, and an alternative practice exists that fixes the issue while serving the same business purpose, and the employer refuses to adopt it. 

The new amendments also change things so that current laws entitling women to the same pay as men doing the same work under the same conditions at the "same establishment" are expanded to include all of an employer's locations within the county. So, if there isn't a disparity within one location, but there is one with another in the same county, a claim can still be made. 

The amendments also prohibit employers from taking action against workers who ask about or discuss or disclose their wages or another employee's wages, though employers can establish policies as to when, where and how these discussions can take place. 

It also ups the amount of damages a company can be held liable for if a willful violation is found, from 100 percent to 300 percent of the wages due. 

The package of bills also includes an amendment to current laws regarding sexual harassment, specifically to whom these laws apply. The amendment removes a current exemption for businesses with fewer than four employees, making the sexual harassment provisions of the New York State Human Rights Law apply to all business in NY state, regardless of how many, or how few, people work there. 

Another bill allows plaintiffs and defendants to recover attorney's fees in cases regarding employment or credit discrimination based on sex, whereas before these fees could only be recovered in housing discrimination claims. 

The fourth bill signed as part of this package will include familiar status as a protected classification, and so explicitly forbids discrimination against people on the basis of them being a parent of a child under 18 years old, a designation that had previously only existed for housing discrimination claims. 

The last bill requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations for conditions related to pregnancy. 

All of these provisions go into effect Jan. 19, 2016, according to the National Law Review.