You saw it three days ago.
The job posting for your exact role. Same title. Same responsibilities. Same department.
The salary range: $85,000 to $125,000.
You make $82,000.
You’ve been here three years. Strong performance reviews. You hit your numbers. You trained two new hires last quarter.
Your male colleague who sits two desks over? He started six months after you. Same title. Same work. You know he makes more because he complained about his raise last month. Now you know how much more.
About $40,000 more.
You thought you were imagining it. You’re not.
The transparency law just made the invisible visible
New York’s pay transparency law went into effect in September 2023. Every job posting must include the salary range. Every promotion. Every transfer.
The law was designed to help you identify exactly what’s happening to you right now.
Companies had to start revealing what they were actually willing to pay. Suddenly, women across New York began seeing the numbers. The gaps they suspected were confirmed.
Your company posted your job with a range that tops out at $43,000 above what you make. They’re hiring someone to do exactly what you do. And they’re willing to pay that person up to $125,000.
But they’re paying you $82,000.
That’s not a market rate problem. That’s pay discrimination.
What the law actually says
New York law prohibits paying someone less for substantially similar work based on any protected class. That includes sex, but it also includes race, age, disability, sexual orientation, national origin, and more.
Substantially similar doesn’t mean identical. It means work that requires similar skill, effort, and responsibility, performed under similar conditions.
Same title and same work qualify. You don’t need to prove your jobs are exactly the same down to the last task. You need to show they’re substantially similar when viewed as a composite.
If your male colleague does the same work you do and gets paid significantly more, and the company can’t point to a legitimate reason, such as seniority or merit, that’s illegal under New York law.
The defenses they’ll try
Your employer will say he has more experience. Or better credentials. Or he negotiated better.
New York law allows pay differences based on seniority, merit, productivity, or other bona fide factors, such as education, training, or experience.
But here’s what most employees don’t know. Those factors have to be job-related, serve a legitimate business purpose, and be consistent with business necessity.
An employer can’t just point to any difference and call it a defense. They have to show that the difference actually matters for the job and justifies a $40,000 gap.
And critically, if the factor they’re relying on has a discriminatory impact and there’s an alternative practice that would work without that impact, they lose the defense entirely.
Translation: if women consistently get paid less because of how they apply their seniority or merit system, and they could design that system differently, their defense fails.
What you can discuss with coworkers
New York law explicitly protects your right to discuss pay with your colleagues. Your employer cannot prohibit you from asking what someone else makes, from telling someone what you make, or from discussing pay differences.
They can set reasonable limits on when and where those conversations happen. They can say you can’t do it during client meetings or in front of customers. But they can’t ban it entirely.
If your company has a policy that prohibits discussing salaries, it is illegal under New York law.
If they retaliate against you for asking about or discussing pay, that’s a separate violation.
The law protects these conversations specifically so you can identify pay discrimination. Just like you’re identifying it right now.
The salary transparency connection
Here’s why the pay transparency law matters for your equal pay claim.
When your company posted that job opening at $85,000 to $125,000, they stated in writing what they believe is a good-faith range for someone doing the work you do.
You’re doing that work right now for $82,000. That’s below even the bottom of their stated range for the same role.
Your company’s own job posting is evidence that they’re underpaying you. They’ve admitted in writing that the job is worth more than what they’re paying you.
And if your male colleague is at or near the top of that range while you’re below the bottom, that’s evidence of a discriminatory pattern.
What is this actually worth
Pay discrimination compounds. Every year you’re underpaid, every raise is calculated on that lower base, every bonus is a percentage of that suppressed salary.
If you’ve been underpaid by $40,000 per year for three years, that’s $120,000 in lost wages. But under New York law, you’re entitled to more than just back pay.
New York law provides liquidated damages for wage violations. For willful violations of the equal pay law, the recovery can be up to 300 percent of the back pay owed.
That means if you’re owed $120,000 in back pay, you could be entitled to an additional $360,000 in liquidated damages. Plus attorneys’ fees. Plus prejudgment interest.
A $40,000 annual pay gap over three years could translate into a total recovery of close to $500,000.
Companies know this. That’s why they settle.
How to prove it
You need three things: evidence of the pay gap, evidence that your work is substantially similar, and evidence that the company doesn’t have a legitimate non-discriminatory reason for the difference.
The pay gap is straightforward if you have the numbers. Paystubs, offer letters, the salary transparency posting, anything showing what you and your colleague actually make.
Substantially similar work requires job descriptions, performance reviews, and emails that clearly outline your actual responsibilities. If you’re doing the same work as your colleague, document that. If you trained him, that’s powerful evidence.
The company’s lack of a legitimate reason often comes out in its own contradictions. If they told you that you’re meeting expectations and hitting your targets, they can’t later claim he deserves more because of performance. If they can’t point to a clear policy explaining why he makes more, that’s evidence of pretext.
And critically, if they can’t explain why they posted the job at a range that’s higher than what they’re paying you for the same work, that’s very hard for them to defend.
What you can do right now
First, document everything. Save that job posting. Screenshot it. The salary range, the job description, and the posting date. Companies sometimes take these down or modify them.
Second, document your own work. Performance reviews, emails where you’re praised, projects you’ve led, responsibilities you’ve taken on. Build a record showing what you actually do.
Third, if you’re comfortable, talk to colleagues about pay. You’re legally protected to do this. Find out if the pattern extends beyond just you and one colleague.
Fourth, check whether this is happening with promotions as well. If men are being promoted faster or to higher levels, that’s additional evidence of a discriminatory pattern.
Fifth, consider your timing. You can address this now while employed, or you can wait until you have another job lined up. Both approaches have strategic implications. An employment lawyer can help you think through what makes sense for your situation.
When they say you should have negotiated better
This defense appears in almost every pay discrimination case. The company says the pay gap exists because he negotiated, and you didn’t.
But negotiation doesn’t exist in a vacuum. If women are systematically discouraged from negotiating, punished when they do, or anchored to lower starting salaries because the company asks about salary history, the negotiation defense fails.
And remember, New York law prohibits asking about salary history. If they set your initial salary based on what you made at your last job, that’s illegal. If they’re now defending the pay gap by saying it started with your initial offer, they’ve admitted to breaking the law.
The retaliation you might face
New York law prohibits retaliation for raising pay discrimination concerns. That includes filing an internal complaint, discussing pay with colleagues, or filing a lawsuit.
If you raise this issue and suddenly you’re being written up for things that were never a problem before, that’s retaliation.
If they eliminate your position in a restructuring after you complain, that’s retaliation.
If your next performance review tanks after years of strong reviews, that’s retaliation.
Document the timing. Document what changed. The closer the adverse action is to your complaint, the stronger the evidence of retaliation.
And remember, retaliation itself is a separate legal claim with separate damages.
When to call a lawyer
Before you do anything formal. Before you file an internal complaint. Before you talk to HR. Before you confront your manager.
An employment lawyer can tell you if what you’re seeing is actionable, what evidence you need, what your options are, and what the risks are of each approach.
Most employment lawyers offer an initial consultation for free or at a flat fee. They can review what you have, determine whether you have a case, and provide a roadmap.
Many equal pay cases are taken on contingency, meaning you don’t pay unless you win. The company pays your legal fees if you prevail.
And critically, a lawyer can help you preserve evidence, avoid mistakes that hurt your case, and negotiate from a position of strength.
The New York advantage
New York has stronger equal pay protections than federal law.
Federal law only prohibits sex based pay discrimination. New York law prohibits pay discrimination based on any protected class.
New York’s standard is substantially similar work, which is broader than the federal equal work standard.
New York has a six-year statute of limitations, compared to two or three years under federal law.
New York allows liquidated damages of up to 300 percent for willful violations. Federal law caps it at 100 percent.
New York explicitly protects your right to discuss pay. Federal law protects this under the National Labor Relations Act, but New York’s protection is clearer and stronger.
If you’re in New York, your legal protections are among the strongest in the country.
What happens next
You have a choice to make.
You can raise this internally and see if the company corrects it. Some companies will. Most won’t.
You can document everything, consult a lawyer, and file a lawsuit. That’s the route that typically results in the largest recovery, but it’s also the most adversarial.
You can look for another job, and once you have an offer, file a lawsuit against your current employer. This protects you from retaliation but doesn’t fix the problem for other women at the company.
Or you can do nothing, and the pay gap will continue. Next year it’ll be bigger. The year after that, bigger still.
There’s no perfect answer. But doing nothing guarantees the problem continues.
When to call us
If you have just discovered a significant pay gap between you and a colleague doing substantially similar work. If your company’s own salary transparency posting shows they’re willing to pay more for your role than they’re paying you. If you’ve raised this internally and been told to accept it, or faced retaliation for asking.
At Risman & Risman, we represent New York employees in equal pay cases. We know how to prove pay discrimination. We know how to calculate what you’re actually owed. And we know how to hold companies accountable.
If you’re being paid less than your colleagues for substantially similar work, call us at 212-233-6400 for a confidential consultation.
That $40,000 gap isn’t a market rate issue. It’s not because he negotiated better. It’s pay discrimination. And under New York law, it’s illegal.