Mamaroneck REVIEW THE
April 13, 2018 | Vol. 6, Number 15 | www.mamaroneckreview.com
Latimer ‘bans the box’ for county jobs
TIGER STRONG Brigid Knowles streaks past an Arlington defender on April 9. Knowles had four goals as the Tigers topped the previously undefeated Admirals 17-6. For story, see page 15. Photo/Mike Smith
County BOL bans asking about prior salary A new bill passed by the Westchester County Board of Legislators this week will make it illegal for employers to inquire about applicants’ previous pay during the hiring process. The Anti-Wage Discrimination Act, which was passed unanimously by lawmakers on April 10, will go before County Executive George Latimer, a Democrat, who was expected to sign it into law on Tuesday afternoon. “This is a crucial step in combatting women’s pay inequality, but it also removes a barrier of discrimination—whether intentional or unintentional—that will help all job seekers, including older workers or workers who are making career transitions, or those returning to work
after raising children, and it will do so at no cost to businesses,” Board of Legislators Chairman Ben Boykin, a Democrat, said in a statement. Lawmakers hope that barring employers from asking about prior salary history will translate into higher wages for employees and greater upward mobility for lower wage workers transitioning into new roles. Among the prospective benefactors, according to the board, will be women workers who often earn a lower salary than their male counterparts. According to a recently released Pew Research analysis, women earned just 82 percent of what men earned annually nationally in 2017, marking
Westchester County lawmakers look to close in on wage discrimination with a new law banning employers from asking about prior salary history. File photo
a continued 15-year stasis in the gender pay disparity. An additional study by employer review and job search site Glassdoor from 2016 also shows that the pay gap is compounded by a disparity in successful salary negotiations between men and women. According to the study, men were more than three times
more likely to successfully negotiate a pay raise. The bill, which will go into effect three months after being signed into law, is based off of a piece of New York state legislation that never made it out of the Legislature after the Senate failed to bring it to a vote. -Reporting by James Pero
Westchester County Executive George Latimer, a Democrat, signed an executive order nixing the requirement that applicants with criminal backgrounds disclose their history when applying for county jobs. Photo courtesy Flickr.com
With an executive order signed last week, job applicants applying for positions in Westchester County government will no longer be required to preemptively disclose their criminal background on job forms. County Executive George Latimer, a Democrat, signed the order to “ban the box” on April 7, moving forward a nearly twoyear-old discussion by the county Board of Legislators. “No longer will applicants be automatically eliminated by dint of their past record—if their application warrants an interview, past details can be covered alongside evaluating all the pluses and minuses of an employment candidate,” Latimer said in a Facebook post. Westchester will join nearly 150 cities and counties nationwide, including New York City and Yonkers, who have both abolished the practice of inquiring about criminal history on job forms. While a similarly proposed piece of legislation pushed by county Democrats in 2016 would have also applied the ban to private businesses as well as county employment, that initiative never made its way out of committee
and to the full Board of Legislators for a vote. Advocates for banning the box argue that questions regarding criminal history unfairly discriminate against employees. New York state law forbids all employers from discriminating against job applicants based on their criminal history unless the crime has a direct relationship to the intended position. Under the executive order, employers will still be able to conduct background checks and criminal history reports after the initial application process. Advocates hope that the move will level the playing field by getting applicants with criminal backgrounds a chance to interview before being removed from consideration. Earlier this year an executive order to ban gun shows on county property signed by Latimer was signed into law by legislators. While had repeatedly attempted to ban the shows under the administration of Rob Astorino, a Republican, the move was ultimately vetoed. Democrats now hold a 12-seat supermajority over Republicans. -Reporting by James Pero