Negotiating In The Dark No More: NYC Employers Will Soon Be Required To Disclose Salaries In Job Postings
Workers in NYC won't have to gamble when asked about their salary expectations. Employers will soon make it mandatory to disclose pay ranges on job listings. Hear more from Associate General Counsel, Alonzo Martinez NYC Salary legislation.
This blog was originally published in Forbes on February 16, 2022.
With a single Tweet, “…if you apply for my old job as a Senior Travel Reporter, you should ask for no less than $115K…,” Victoria Walker ignited the #shareyoursalary movement aimed at normalizing open conversations about pay. “I believe being transparent is one way to achieve equity in media,” said Walker. Walker’s post has encouraged others to share their salaries and benefits strategies. It serves as a reminder to New York City employers that wage transparency will soon become a required part of hiring in the city.
Job seekers in New York City will no longer have to take a shot in the dark when asked about their salary expectations. Effective May 15, 2022, employers with four or more workers in New York City will soon be required to post the minimum and maximum salary range for any job within the city. The city’s wage transparency law aims to help alleviate sex-based wage disparities by establishing a level field for pay practices.
Int. 1208-2018 amends the New York City Human Rights Law and applies to external job advertisements and internal announcements concerning promotions or transfer opportunities. The posted salary range should represent the compensation that the employer anticipates offering “in good faith” at the time of the posting. Postings for temporary employment at temp firms are excluded from the scope of covered employers under the wage transparency law. An employer operating in NYC should count all other employees, including interns and independent contractors, to assess if they meet the four-worker threshold for the law.
The New York City Commission on Human Rights is expected to publish interpretive guidance before the law’s effective date. In particular, guidance concerning establishing salary ranges “in good faith” and the law’s applicability to remote workers is unclear. In the interim, employers are advised to assess the law’s relevance and, as necessary, conduct an analysis of pay for impacted roles, and prepare to communicate pay ranges for external and internal job postings.
New York City is the second jurisdiction behind Colorado, requiring wage transparency in job postings. Eight other jurisdictions: California, Connecticut, Maryland, Nevada, Rhode Island, Washington, Cincinnati, Ohio, and Toledo, Ohio, require that employers disclose wage ranges upon request. Several other jurisdictions are considering similar legislation this year.
As legislation is often ripped from the headlines, employers should expect wage transparency laws to continue to gain traction. Employers are encouraged to review pay equity resources, engage their legal counsel, and consider implementing policies that promote wage transparency across the board; job seekers are ready for it.
Release Date: February 22, 2022
Alonzo Martinez
Alonzo Martinez is Associate General Counsel at HireRight, where he supports the company’s compliance, legal research, and thought leadership initiatives in the background screening industry. As a senior contributor at Forbes, Alonzo writes on employment legislation, criminal history reform, pay equity, AI discrimination laws, and the impact of legalized cannabis on employers. Recognized as an industry influencer, he shares insights through his weekly video updates, media appearances, podcasts, and HireRight's compliance webinar series. Alonzo's commitment to advancing industry knowledge ensures HireRight remains at the forefront of creating actionable compliance content.