New York City’s pay transparency law, which requires most New York City employers to disclose salary ranges in their job postings, took effect on November 1, 2022. As we previously reported, the new law amends the New York City Human Rights Law to require covered employers who post a job, promotion, or transfer opportunity for a position that can or will be performed, at least in part, in New York City to disclose the minimum and maximum annual salary or hourly wage that the employer in good faith believes it would pay for the position.

Covered employers include those who have four or more employees (including independent contractors and owners), or one or more domestic workers, so long as at least one of the employees works in New York City. The law additionally covers employment agencies of all sizes. However, “[j]ob advertisement[s] for temporary employment at a temporary help firm,” such as a staffing agency, are exempted from disclosure requirements.

Guidance issued by the NYC Commission on Human Rights (the “Commission”) provides that the “salary” employers must disclose is the “base annual or hourly wage or rate of pay,” and it need not include “other forms of compensation or benefits offered in connection with the advertised job,” such as health insurance, severance pay, overtime pay, commissions, tips, bonuses, and stock. Employers must include both a minimum and a maximum salary, but if the employer has no flexibility, they are permitted to post a salary where the minimum and maximum salary are identical, for example, “$20 per hour.”  The employer cannot, however, leave the salary range open-ended, such as by stating “$15 per hour and up.”

A statewide bill proposing a similar pay transparency law was passed by the New York State Legislature in June 2022, which we reported on previously.  The bill is currently under consideration by Governor Hochul, and, if enacted, will take effect 270 days after it is signed into law.

What Should Employers Be Doing?

  • Covered employers should account for any positions they anticipate advertising (or continuing to advertise) with covered job listings. Commission guidance states that “the law does not prohibit employers from hiring without use of an advertisement, or require employers to create an advertisement in order to hire.” Accordingly, employers are not required to disclose a salary for a position that they do not plan to “advertise.” However, covered job listings are defined broadly to include any advertisement that includes a “written description of an available job, promotion, or transfer opportunity that is publicized to a pool of potential applicants” (which may include existing employees) and includes advertisements “on internal bulletin boards, internet advertisements, printed flyers distributed at job fairs, and newspaper advertisements.”
  • For covered jobs they intend to advertise, employers should review their job descriptions and determine in good faith the position’s target salary range. Employers should consider whether to internally document the factors used to determine the salary range for a given position and/or provide some information in the job posting itself about the factors that may impact what salary within the stated range may be offered to any particular candidate (e.g., years of experience, level of education obtained, etc.).
  • Employers should add the target range to new listings as well as any active listings on the company’s website or third-party job-posting websites (such as LinkedIn or Indeed), if the listing remains active past the November 1 effective date. Employers should ensure the target salary range is included on every job listing posted on the company’s website or intranet, disseminated online, or otherwise advertised with a written description, including through an employment agency, to the extent the employer controls or could reasonably control the job listing.
  • Covered employers outside New York City should ensure they include target salary ranges in advertisements for positions unless the position expressly cannot be performed in New York City. This is especially relevant for fully remote positions that arguably could be performed from anywhere, including NYC.
  • Employers with operations both within and outside of New York City (or who are posting for fully remote positions) will also need to consider whether any other state or local pay transparency laws may apply to their job postings and ensure compliance accordingly. Even if no pay transparency laws apply to a given posting, employers should still consider whether they nevertheless would prefer to have uniformity across all job postings or whether salary range information will only be included in postings for roles that can be performed in NYC (or any other jurisdiction with a similar pay transparency law).

We will continue to monitor and report on further developments regarding this law.

Print:
Email this postTweet this postLike this postShare this post on LinkedIn
Photo of Allan Bloom Allan Bloom

Allan Bloom is the co-chair of Proskauer’s Labor & Employment Law Department and a nationally recognized litigator and advisor who represents employers, business owners, and management in a broad range of employment and labor law matters. As a litigator, Allan has successfully defended…

Allan Bloom is the co-chair of Proskauer’s Labor & Employment Law Department and a nationally recognized litigator and advisor who represents employers, business owners, and management in a broad range of employment and labor law matters. As a litigator, Allan has successfully defended many of the world’s leading companies against claims for unpaid wages, employment discrimination, breach of contract and wrongful discharge, both at the trial and appellate court levels as well as in arbitration, before government agencies, and in private negotiations. He has secured complete defense verdicts for clients in front of juries, as well as injunctions to protect clients’ confidential information and assets.

As the leader of Proskauer’s Wage and Hour Practice Group, Allan has been a strategic partner to a number of Fortune 500 companies to help them avoid, minimize and manage exposure to wage and hour-related risk. Allan’s views on wage and hour issues have been featured in The New York TimesReutersBloomberg and Fortune, among other leading publications. His class-action defense work for clients has saved billions of dollars in potential damages.

Allan is regularly called on to advise operating companies, management companies, fund sponsors, boards of directors and senior leadership on highly sensitive matters including executive and key person transitions, internal investigations and strategic workforce planning. He has particular expertise in the financial services industry, where he has litigated, arbitrated, and mediated disputes for more than 20 years.

A prolific author and speaker, Allan was the Editor of the New York State Bar Association’s Labor and Employment Law Journal from 2012 to 2017. He has served as an author, editor and contributor to a number of leading treatises in the field of employment law, including ADR in Employment Law (ABA/Bloomberg BNA), Employment Discrimination Law (ABA/Bloomberg BNA), Cutting Edge Advances in Resolving Workplace Disputes (Cornell University/CPR), The Employment Law Review (Law Business Research, U.S. Chapter Author), and The Complete Compliance and Ethics Manual (SCCE).

Allan has served as longtime pro bono counsel to Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and The Public Theater, among other nonprofit organizations.  He is a past Vice Chair of Repair the World, a nonprofit organization that mobilizes volunteers and their communities to take action to pursue a just world, and a past recipient of the Lawyers Alliance Cornerstone Award for extraordinary contributions through pro bono legal services.

Allan is a Fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers and has been recognized as a leading practitioner by Chambers since 2011.

Photo of Evandro Gigante Evandro Gigante

Evandro is the go-to employment litigator and counselor when clients face their most challenging, bet the reputation claims, or want to develop policies and practices that mitigate legal risk. As an award-winning partner in the Labor & Employment Law Department, member of the…

Evandro is the go-to employment litigator and counselor when clients face their most challenging, bet the reputation claims, or want to develop policies and practices that mitigate legal risk. As an award-winning partner in the Labor & Employment Law Department, member of the Employment Litigation group, and co-head of the Counseling, Training & Pay Equity group, he represents clients on a variety of labor and employment matters, including allegations of sexual harassment, race, gender, national origin, disability and religious discrimination. In addition, Evandro handles restrictive covenant matters, including non-compete, non-solicitation and trade secret disputes. Evandro also counsels employers through the most sensitive employment issues, including matters involving employer diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

With a focus on discrimination and harassment claims, Evandro has extensive experience defending clients before federal and state courts. He tries cases before juries and arbitrators and routinely represents clients before administrative agencies such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, as well as state and local human rights commissions. Evandro often draws on his extensive litigation experience to help clients avoid the courtroom by effectuating positive change in the workplace through impactful anti-discrimination and harassment training, as well as robust employment policies.

Working in a wide range of industries, Evandro has experience representing clients in professional services, including law firms, financial services, including private equity and hedge funds, higher education, sports, media, retail, and others. Evandro also advises charter schools and other not-for-profit organizations on labor and employment matters on a pro bono basis.

Photo of Laura Fant Laura Fant

Laura Fant is a special employment law counsel in the Labor & Employment Law Department and co-administrative leader of the Counseling, Training & Pay Equity Practice Group. Her practice is dedicated to providing clients with practical solutions to common (and uncommon) employment concerns…

Laura Fant is a special employment law counsel in the Labor & Employment Law Department and co-administrative leader of the Counseling, Training & Pay Equity Practice Group. Her practice is dedicated to providing clients with practical solutions to common (and uncommon) employment concerns, with a focus on legal compliance, risk management and mitigation strategies, and workplace culture considerations.

Laura regularly counsels clients across numerous industries on a wide variety of employment matters involving recruitment and hiring, employee leave and reasonable accommodation issues, performance management, and termination of employment . She also advises on preparing, implementing and enforcing employment and separation agreements, employee handbooks and company policies, as well as provides training on topics including discrimination and harassment in the workplace. Laura is a frequent contributor to Proskauer’s Law and the Workplace blog and The Proskauer Brief podcast.

Photo of Scott Tan Scott Tan

Scott Tan is an associate in the Labor & Employment Law Department.  Scott represents employers in a variety of matters in federal and state court, arbitrations and state and local administrative proceedings.  His practice encompasses a wide range of labor and employment matters…

Scott Tan is an associate in the Labor & Employment Law Department.  Scott represents employers in a variety of matters in federal and state court, arbitrations and state and local administrative proceedings.  His practice encompasses a wide range of labor and employment matters, including employment discrimination, retaliation, breach of contract, whistleblower claims, restrictive covenants, and wage & hour claims.  Scott also counsels clients on a diverse array of employment matters, including accommodations requests, reductions-in-force, pay equity, wage and hour issues, and compliance with federal, state, and local laws.  Scott’s recent work has involved advising and representing clients across industries such as financial services, sports, news and media, healthcare, legal services, and real estate, in matters ranging from single and multi-plaintiff lawsuits to class and collective actions.

Scott has an active pro bono practice and advises non-profit organizations on employee separations and other employment issues.  He recently secured a favorable judgment in New York state court on behalf of a charitable foundation.  Scott also co-leads Proskauer’s Moot Court Program, where he introduces local high school students to appellate advocacy and coaches them to participate in an annual competition against other New York City high schools.

Scott received his J.D. from UCLA School of Law, where he served on the Moot Court Honors Board and worked as a research assistant for Professor Jennifer Mnookin and Professor Hiroshi Motomura.