You’ve suspected it for a while. Maybe you found out a coworker makes more than you for the same job. Maybe you saw a job posting for your role – or one just like it – at a higher salary than you’re earning. Maybe you’ve just watched who gets the raises and who doesn’t, and the pattern is hard to ignore.
You’re not imagining it. Pay discrimination is real, it’s pervasive, and in New York, it’s illegal.
New York has some of the strongest equal pay protections in the country – stronger than federal law by a long shot. And those protections are about to get teeth. New York City just passed two laws – Int. 982-A and Int. 984-A – that will force large employers to document pay patterns by race and gender. That data will be analyzed, published, and used. Employers who’ve been hiding behind “that’s just how we do things” are going to have to explain themselves.
But here’s what you need to know right now: you don’t have to wait for those reports. If you’re being paid less than colleagues doing substantially similar work, and the difference tracks with your sex, race, age, pregnancy, disability, or another protected characteristic – you may already have a claim.
One important note before we get into the details: The new reporting laws apply to large employers – 200 or more employees. But New York’s equal pay protections cover you regardless of company size. State law applies to ALL employers, period. NYC law kicks in at four. So even if your employer isn’t subject to the new reporting requirements, you’re still protected. Keep reading.
Who This Applies To
The reporting requirement covers private employers with 200 or more employees working in New York City – full-time, part-time, and temporary workers all count. Government employers are excluded, but most large private employers in the city will be covered.
If you work for a big company in New York City, your employer will eventually have to report compensation data in a standardized format. Your individual pay won’t be published, but the patterns across race and gender will be.
What Gets Reported
Employers will submit annual pay reports using a city-mandated form. The reports will break down compensation by race, ethnicity, and gender, organized by job category and pay band. Employers can include explanations, but the data speaks for itself.
Here’s why that matters: once compensation patterns are documented, employers have to be ready to explain them. “That’s just how it is” doesn’t cut it anymore.
The Timeline
This isn’t immediate. By December 4, 2026, the Mayor has to designate a city agency to oversee the process. That agency then has a year to develop the reporting form. Once the form is finalized, employers have twelve months to submit their first reports, so we’re looking at around 2028 for the first filings, then annually after that.
But here’s the thing: you don’t have to wait until 2028 to question pay disparities. If something doesn’t add up now, it doesn’t add up now and you’ve got rights to oppose wage discrimination.
What Happens with the Data
A companion law requires the designated City agency to conduct annual pay equity studies using the reported data. Those studies will identify compensation disparities by race and gender, highlight trends across industries, and examine occupational segregation. The findings get reported to City leadership and made public.
Public findings influence enforcement priorities, legislative action, and litigation strategies. Data doesn’t sit quietly once it’s analyzed. For employees, this means pay disparities are less likely to stay buried.
How This Connects to Salary Transparency
Since November 1, 2022, New York City has required employers with four or more workers to post salary ranges in job listings. New York State followed with its own pay transparency law on September 17, 2023, also covering employers with four or more employees. Both laws apply to new hires, promotions, and transfers. The ranges have to be what the employer actually expects to pay – no open-ended nonsense.
Salary transparency shows what an employer claims a role is worth. Pay data reporting shows what workers are actually paid once they’re inside the organization. When those numbers don’t match up, that’s a problem – and now there’s a paper trail on both ends.
I see this more and more: someone spots a job posting for a role similar to theirs, advertised at a higher salary than they’re making. That’s not nothing. That’s the beginning of a case.
The Bigger Picture: State and Federal Law
These NYC reporting laws are significant, but they’re not the only game in town, and frankly, they’re not even the strongest tool available to you right now.
The federal Equal Pay Act covers pay discrimination based on sex. That’s it – just sex. And the comparison standard is narrow.
New York State law is much stronger. In 2019, Governor Cuomo signed the Achieve Pay Equity Act, which expanded protections significantly. Under state law, equal pay protections cover ALL protected categories – not just sex, but race, age, disability, national origin, and more. The comparison standard is “substantially similar work,” which is broader than the federal standard. Retaliation for discussing pay is explicitly prohibited. And here’s the key difference: the state equal pay law applies to ALL employers – there’s no minimum employee threshold. NYC’s Human Rights Law requires four or more employees, but state law covers everyone.
And the NYC Human Rights Law adds another layer of protection on top of that for workers in the five boroughs.
The point is: if you’re being paid less for substantially similar work because of your sex, race, age, disability, or another protected characteristic, you likely have claims under multiple laws right now – federal, state, and city, though again, federal law only covers unequal pay because of sex. But you don’t have to wait for pay reporting to kick in to act on what you already know.
What You Should Do Right Now
Pay discrimination rarely announces itself. It shows up as lower starting pay, slower raises, unexplained gaps between you and colleagues doing the same work, or instructions not to discuss compensation. Sometimes it becomes visible when you see a job posting.
If something doesn’t add up, document it. Save job postings. Note what you’re told about pay decisions. Keep track of “comparators” – the people at your company doing substantially similar work who are paid differently.
And if your employer tells you not to discuss pay with coworkers, know this: that’s protected activity under federal law, and even more so under NY state and city law. They can’t legally stop you.
The Bottom Line
For years, employees had to prove pay discrimination without access to the data that would prove it. Employers controlled the numbers and employees were expected to just trust them. That imbalance is shifting.
Pay reporting creates records that exist independently of any individual complaint. It exposes patterns employees could never see on their own. The question is no longer whether pay gaps exist. The question is whether employers can legally defend them.
If you have questions about pay disparities – whether reporting has started or not – don’t quit. #DONTQUIT. Get advice first. You don’t need to prove intent. You need facts.
We offer free, confidential evaluations. You don’t have to navigate this alone.
Contact Tuckner Sipser Weinstock & Sipser, LLP at 212-766-9100 or email us at info@womensrightsny.com.