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New York City is moving ahead with a new employer pay data reporting requirement after the City Council overrode a veto by former Mayor Eric Adams.
The law will require large employers to submit workforce pay information broken down by race, ethnicity, and gender, placing the city among a small but growing group of jurisdictions using pay data to study wage equity, according to The National Law Review.
Although the measure is now law, employers will not be required to submit data immediately. The City must first build the reporting system, a process expected to take several years.
Reporting Will Apply to Large NYC Employers
The requirement will apply to employers with 200 or more employees working in New York City, including full-time, part-time, and temporary workers.
Before reporting begins, the City must designate an agency to oversee the program by December 2026. That agency will then have up to another year to develop a standardized reporting form. Employers will begin filing reports one year after the form is published, with submissions required annually after that.
Pay Data Will Mirror Earlier Federal Reporting
The data employers will be required to submit closely resembles information previously collected by the federal government. Reports will use the same pay bands, job categories, and demographic groupings that the EEOC required under its EEO-1 “Component 2” pay data collection for 2017 and 2018.
That federal requirement ended in 2020, making the NYC law a revival of pay reporting obligations that have not existed for several years. The City’s designated agency will have discretion to adjust reporting details, including how gender information is captured.
Reports May Be Anonymous, But Employers Will Be Identified
Employers will be allowed to submit pay data without attaching their name to the report itself. However, each submission must be accompanied by a signed statement identifying the employer and confirming the accuracy of the information.
The City will use the collected data to conduct an annual pay equity analysis. Any public release of results will be aggregated and anonymized, with the intent of preventing identification of individual employers or employees.
Penalties and Public Accountability
Employers that fail to comply may face civil penalties. A first violation can be resolved with a warning if corrected within 30 days; otherwise, a $1,000 fine may apply. Repeat violations carry penalties of $5,000.
In addition to fines, the City will publish an annual list of employers that do not meet the reporting requirements.
Part of a Larger Pay Transparency Push
New York City’s action follows similar measures in other states. California requires annual workforce pay data reports from large employers, Illinois mandates periodic equal pay certifications supported by demographic wage data, and Massachusetts now requires submission of federal EEO reports at the state level.
Meanwhile, New York state lawmakers are considering a separate proposal that would require employers seeking state contracts to submit detailed pay equity data to the State Comptroller.
While employers will not need to submit data for several years, the law signals a renewed focus on pay equity reporting in New York. As the City develops its reporting framework, employers with a large NYC workforce are expected to begin preparing for expanded data collection and compliance obligations.
