New York City Council Passes Amendments That Would Require Employers to Report Pay Data

New York City and New York State have laws in place that require employers to publish salary ranges in job advertisements. On the heels of these laws, New York City employers may soon be required to submit a report to a New York City agency detailing employers’ workforce demographic and pay data. Specifically, on October 9, 2025, the New York City Council passed two bills, Int. No. 982-A and Int. 984-A, that would require private employers with at least 200 employees to report demographic and pay data that New York City would then use to conduct a pay equity analysis of the private workforce and identify any disparities related to gender, race, and ethnicity. The bills passed the New York City Council by an overwhelming majority. The bills, both of which are described below, are widely expected to be signed into law. 

Proposed Int. 982-A

NYC Int. No. 982-A requires private employers with at least 200 employees within New York City to submit employee demographic and pay data annually to a New York City agency that will be designated at a future date. The mayor of New York City will be required to designate the city agency tasked with collecting the employers’ pay data within a year of the bill’s enactment. 

Once the mayor selects an administrative agency to collect the demographic and pay data, that agency would then be required to develop a form that employers would use to report their own specific demographic and pay data. The data that covered employers would be required to submit is similar to the information employers are required to report via the federal EEO-1 component 2 reports from 2017 and 2018. Specifically, this would require covered employers to report employees’ salaries and rates of pay broken down by employees’ job titles, sex, and race/ethnicity. The bill also provides that the city may also include reporting options for different gender identities than those represented in the EEO-1 reports. Employers would also have the option to include explanatory remarks to clarify any of the information provided.

Though employers could submit data anonymously, employers would also be required to submit a signed statement confirming that the employer submitted accurate pay data. These reports would be required to be filed one year after the designated city agency publishes the standardized reporting form. 

The bill contemplates penalties for non-compliance. First-time violations would be subject to a written warning and an opportunity to cure within 30 days. If the employer does not submit pay data after 30 days, the city would assess a civil penalty of $1,000 for the first offense and $5,000 for all subsequent offenses. The designated agency would also publish an annual list identifying any covered employer that has not timely submitted a pay report after the 30-day cure period. 

Proposed Int. 984-A

No later than one year after employers submit the pay reports, the designated agency would be required to conduct a pay equity study in connection with the New York City Commission on Gender Equity and other designated city agencies. The study would evaluate and examine any disparities in compensation based on gender, race, or ethnicity and identify industries in which disparities are prevalent. The findings would be presented within six months to the mayor and city council, along with recommendations to address any disparities identified. The agency would also publish the aggregate data contained in the pay reports. 

Conclusion

The New York City Council has recently focused on addressing perceived pay equity issues within New York workplaces. By previously passing laws requiring employers to publish salary ranges in job advertisements, and by passing these laws requiring publishing of pay data to a city agency, the New York City Council seems to believe that sunlight is the best disinfectant and that by publicly reporting salary data, private employers will be forced to address and cure any apparent issues concerning unequal pay for equal work. 

New York City employers should carefully examine their pay practices and compensation decisions. This is an ideal time for New York City employers to audit their practices to ensure adherence to state, local, and federal law. When these reviews are performed with the assistance of counsel, these pay practice audits will help businesses identify and address potential pay concerns before the data is sent to governmental agencies for analysis.

* Giro Maccheroni is a pre-bar associate in Littler’s New York City office.