After a statewide salary transparency law takes effect on Sunday, help wanted ads in New York will be required to disclose suggested pay rates as part of rising state and local initiatives to provide women and people of colour a tool to campaign for equal pay for equal labour.
Employers with four or more employees must provide wage ranges for every position that is posted publicly or distributed internally to employees who are considering promotions or transfers.
Supporters contend that pay transparency will stop businesses from paying some job candidates more or less based on their age, gender, colour, or other characteristics unrelated to their qualifications.
The change, according to supporters, might also make underpaid employees aware that they earn less than those performing similar jobs.
New York City has had a comparable wage transparency ordinance in place since 2022. The remainder of the state has now joined a small group of others with comparable rules, such as California and Colorado.
“There is a trend, not just in legislatures but among workers, to know how much they can expect going into a job. There’s a demand from workers to know of the pay range,” said Da Hae Kim, a state policy senior counsel at the National Women’s Law Center.
The rule, which was approved by Gov. Kathy Hochul in 2022, will also be applicable to remote workers who are based outside of New York but report to a manager, office, or workplace there. Governmental organisations and companies that provide temporary staff are exempt from the statute.
According to Frank Kerbein, director of human resources at the New York Business Council, which has criticised the bill for adding to companies’ administrative burdens, compliance will be difficult.
“We have small employers who don’t even know about the law,” said Kerbein, who predicted there would be “a lot of unintentional noncompliance.”
According to Allen Shoikhetbrod, an employment lawyer at the private law company Tully Rinckley, an employer should review wages for present employees when establishing a salary range to avoid problems.
The measure, according to state senator Jessica Ramos, a Democrat who represents a portion of Queens, is a victory for labour rights organisations.
“This is something that, organically, workers are asking for,” she said. “Particularly with young people entering the workforce, they’ll have a greater understanding about how their work is valued.”
