PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Hilary Wilson, Senior Policy Analyst at Community Service Society of New York
2:24:47
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135 sec
Hilary Wilson, representing the Community Service Society of New York, testified in support of salary transparency bills, emphasizing their necessity and feasibility in addressing gender pay gaps and workplace secrecy. She presented findings on women's earnings and savings disparities, and discussed the impact of the proposed legislation on businesses.
- CSS analysis shows only 2.3% of NYC establishments (5,354 total) would be affected by the proposed 100+ employee threshold for pay data reporting.
- Many large businesses likely already have capacity to collect pay data due to similar laws in other jurisdictions.
- Wilson believes the proposed bills will help close gender and racial pay gaps.
Hilary Wilson
2:24:47
Thank you, Chair Williams, for this opportunity to testify today.
2:24:52
My name is Hillary Wilson, and I'm a senior policy analyst at the Community Service Society of New York, a leading nonprofit that champions a more equitable city and state through research, advocacy, and direct services.
2:25:05
I will focus today on why the salary transparency bills, that have been discussed today are both necessary and feasible.
2:25:14
In a recent CSS report, we found that women not only earn less than men, but are more than twice as likely to have no savings set aside for a rainy day.
2:25:26
These disparities persist despite strong equal pay laws at the state and local levels, some of which we've discussed today.
2:25:33
While job seekers have no doubt benefited from salary range transparency laws and salary history bans, information on pay remains out of reach for many workers because of a persistent culture of secrecy in the workplace.
2:25:48
Intros 808 a, 982, and 984 address this problem head on by taking the burden of uncovering pay information off of individual workers and affirming their right to know whether they are being paid fairly.
2:26:03
I understand that council member Kaban intends to amend intro 982, and I think, council member Farias also intends to do this too, to require businesses with 100 employees or more to report pay data.
2:26:19
According to our analysis at CSS, there are a total of 5,354 such establishments in New York City.
2:26:26
This represents just 2.3% of all New York City establishments.
2:26:31
Those businesses with operations in
Hillary Scrivani
2:26:32
states like California or Illinois or abroad
Hilary Wilson
2:26:32
in the UK or the EU, California or Illinois or abroad in the UK or the EU are likely already reporting data on pay as these places have their own reporting laws on the books.
2:26:44
In short, businesses of this size, likely already have the capacity and the know how to collect pay data as proposed in the bills.
2:26:54
It is past time that we close the gender and racial pay gap, and I believe that these bills will help us get there.
2:27:02
Thank you.
