Salary ranges hit NYC job postings on November 1 – here’s what you need to know

After months of waiting, landmark legislation affecting the roughly 4 million private sector workers in New York City is finally taking effect: Starting from November 1Most employers in New York City will be required to list the salary range on all job advertisements, promotions and transfer opportunities.

Experts say legislation promoting employer wage transparency is key to closing racial and gender wage gaps.

And given the size and scale of employers in New York City, coupled with a new adoption of remote work, it is likely that the impact of the new law will reach far beyond the city.

Here’s what you need to know.

What the law requires

The law specifically states that beginning November 1, “employers advertising jobs in New York City must include a bona fide salary for each job, promotion and transfer opportunity advertised.”

A “good faith” range is what employers “honestly believe at the time they list the job ad that they are willing to pay the successful applicant(s),” says the New York Human Rights Commission. City.

Employers must publish the minimum and maximum salary on offer for a particular role when it is listed on an internal job board, as well as external sites such as LinkedIn, Glassdoor, Indeed and other job search platforms. It also applies to any written description of an open job that is printed on a flyer, distributed at a job fair or submitted to newspaper ads.

The wage requirement is specific to the base salary, whether annual or hourly, but does not require employers to list things like health insurance, time off, allowances, overtime pay, commissions, tips, bonuses , stock, 401(k) matching. or other types of compensation.

The ranges must be specific and cannot be opened (for example, $15 an hour and more).

To whom the law applies

The law applies to businesses with four or more employees (including the owner or sole proprietor) where at least one person works in New York City.

Covers job advertisements that call for full-time or part-time employees, interns, domestic workers, independent contractors or any other category of workers protected by the New York City Human Rights Law.

It covers remote workers in New York, but not companies that hire outside the city

The salary must be included on the posts for any position that can or will be performed, in whole or in part, in New York City, whether from an office, in the field or remotely from the employee’s home.

This means that the law applies to companies located outside the city that want to post job ads for remote work that could be done from anywhere in the United States, including New York City.

On the other hand, an employer based in New York does not need to comply with the law if it advertises a job that will specifically be performed in a location outside the city.

What to expect on November 1st

Some large companies began including their pay ranges on job ads before November 1.

Larger employers likely have better infrastructure and resources to have their pay ranges already formalized, and listing them in jobs “will happen more or less overnight,” says Tony Guadagni, senior director of research at the company. of Gartner consultancy.

Small and medium-sized businesses may take longer to get up to speed.

If a company does not comply with the law, job seekers and workers can file complaints or leave an anonymous tip with the city. Human Rights Commission, which may initiate an investigation. Individuals with claims against a current employer may also file a lawsuit in civil court.

If a business violates the law, it may have to pay monetary damages to affected employees, update its job ads, create or update payment policies, conduct training and take other forms of recourse.

They will have a bit of a grace period, however – the Commission will not assess a civil penalty for a first complaint, as long as the employer shows that he has repaired the violation within 30 days. Otherwise, non-compliant companies may have to pay civil penalties of up to $250,000.

How the NYC law could affect pay across the country

Experts agree that it’s only a matter of time before salary transparency laws requiring salary ranges in job ads become the norm across the U.S. A similar law already exists in Colorado, and is coming to California and the rest of New York State next year.

Because so many companies are based in New York City or have a presence there, some companies may choose to change their policies across the board, even where compliance is not required, for the sake of uniformity.

Although it can be an administrative headache for companies, pay transparency policies are very popular among workers. And legal regulation may be what it takes to get business leaders finally on board with some leverage over the public.

“I think most HR leaders would like to be more transparent about pay, but they have a hard time making that case to managers – the benefits you see with positive engagement and employee outcomes outweigh some risks,” says Guadagni.

“HR managers see this as a silver lining. For the first time, their hand is forced in terms of pay transparency, and they are able to get more executive agreement on things they know to be positive about the organization as a whole”.

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