APA Comments on Proposed New York Data Collection Legislation

The APA opposed a pay data collection bill in New York. A.B. 1955 and its companion bill S.B. 2777 would greatly increase the amount of pay data collected by the state. The bills are intended to advance workplace pay equities, but, if passed, would create one of the most burdensome pay data reporting requirements in the nation.

The APA raised questions about the necessity of categories of data being collected and the ability of payroll professionals and their employers to maintain compliance should such a large requirement become law.

Problems With the Proposed Legislation

While the APA understands and supports the important goal of equal and fair pay, the New York bill contains significant hurdles:

1. A huge amount of data is required to be reported. The data required ranges from each employee’s race to training received and disciplinary actions.
2.  A robust and extensive employer education campaign would be needed due to the large number of employers that would be subject to reporting requirements.
3. The bill requires reporting of some categories not easily transmittable in a useful format, such as training received, raises, promotions, disciplinary actions, terminations, and benefits.

A Second Pay Data Reporting Bill in the Mix

In the process of evaluating the payroll impacts from A.B. 1955/S.B. 2777, a different bill was introduced, A.B.1988/S.B. 453, which contains more payroll-friendly data collection provisions. The APA leaned more favorably toward A.B. 1988 because the provisions more closely match the reporting requirements of the existing federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s Employer Information Report (EEO-1).

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Mike Linehan is the Assistant Manager of Government Relations for the APA.