By: Jennifer Weitz, Esq. and Ty Hyderally, Esq.

New York City’s Pay Transparency Law is about to go live. As of November 1, 2022, all employers advertising jobs in New York City must include a good faith salary range for all jobs, promotions, and transfer opportunities advertised. The new law, an amendment to the City’s Human Rights Law, will cover employers with four or more employees or one or more domestic workers. (Owners and individual owners count as employees for purposes of determining coverage.) The four employees do not have to work in the same location and they don’t even have to all work in New York City. If one employee works in New York City, that employer is covered. Given the staying power of remote work, the new law may potentially affect a large number of businesses.

To ensure compliance, employers will have to include the minimum and maximum salary for a position, either in hourly or annual wages. The salary also cannot be open-ended. For example, a job may list a salary as “$20 an hour” but not “$18 an hour and up.” The advertised salary does not have to include other forms of compensation, such as overtime pay or stocks, or benefits, such as health insurance or vacation or sick days.

As we reported previously, only an employee with claims against their current employer can file a lawsuit. However, the law authorizes the Commission on Human Rights to accept and investigate complaints of violations. The New York City Law Enforcement Bureau may also initiate an investigation, if it receives a tip or other information pertaining to an alleged violation.

A similar bill is pending in the New York State Legislature. If signed, the law will take effect sometime next year, 270 days after Governor Hochul signs it. New York would then join a number of other states, including Colorado, Washington state, Connecticut and Nevada, in requiring some type of salary transparency for job applicants. While some business advocates worry that separate laws in New York City and New York State would produce a patchwork of regulations, New York state law allows Governor Hochul to amend the bill before signing it, if changes are needed to produce uniformity.

Pay transparency laws are designed to address pay disparities that often disproportionately affect women and people of color. To this end, advocates recently designated September 21 as Black Women’s Equal Pay Day—the estimated date that the average Black women has to work to for her 2021 pay to equal that of the average White, male worker.

The new law will potentially benefit both businesses and job seekers. Businesses won’t waste time interviewing applicants who can’t accept an offer, and applicants will respond to employers who are honest and upfront about wages.

Click here for more information on New York City’s Pay Transparency Law. For questions about the law, or to report workplace discrimination, call the New York City Commission on Human Rights at 212-416-0197 or go to www.NYC.gov/HumanRights.

If you are a business owner looking for advice on compliance, please call our offices at 973-509-8500 or email us at tyh@employmentlit.com.

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