New York City’s new salary transparency law will go into effect on November 1 after several months of delays. Did you hear about it? If you don’t live in New York, I am sure you haven’t, so here is a breakdown.
The amended salary transparency law, which was passed in April, requires most employers to post minimum and maximum salary ranges for any New York City-based job postings. We say most because the law only applies to businesses with at least four employees. While this won’t affect every business, it will affect most businesses.
The goal of the law is to help close the gender wage gap by providing more information about salaries upfront. In addition, the law will help to ensure that job applicants are not being underpaid relative to their qualifications and experience. Advocates of the law hope that it will lead to fairer wages for all workers in New York City.
Any company that violates the law will answer to the Commission on Human Rights, which is tasked with enforcing the statute. The consequences for a first offense in the salary transparency law are not expected to be harsh, but persistent issues could result in penalties of up to $250,000.
New York City’s new law requiring employers to post salary ranges for job listings is certainly not the first of its kind. California has a similar law in the works, while Colorado passed its Equal Pay for Equal Work Act in 2019.
While we may not see this exact salary transparency law come into effect in Rhode Island anytime soon, there have been other wage disclosure requirements. Effective 1/1/2023, employers must provide a wage range when an employee is hired, a current employee moves into a new position, and/or upon the employee’s request. The employer also must provide a wage range upon an applicant’s request and “should” provide a wage range to an applicant prior to discussing compensation.