You will soon be able to see Pay on NYC job openings

Almost all employers hiring in the city would be covered by the law; only those with fewer than four employees or employment companies that hire temporary workers are excluded. Companies that fail to comply could be fined or face other civil penalties.

The measure, aimed at closing the gender pay gap and providing greater transparency on salaries, is the latest step in an expansion of salary disclosure requirements that are also being implemented in states like Rhode. Island and Connecticut. It comes amid a lingering labor shortage in the United States and could give employees even more clout when many are already in a better position in employment options and negotiations.

In response to a similar law in Colorado that went into effect last year, employers from Johnson & Johnson to commercial real estate giant CBRE Group Inc.

clarified in the posts that remote jobs were closed to people living in the state, allowing companies to circumvent disclosure requirements.

Employment experts say New York’s law could be more significant due to the size of the city’s economy and the number of large US companies operating there. Banks such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

have hundreds of jobs open in the city, as do hedge funds, law firms, media companies and giants such as Alphabet Inc.

Google and Estee Lauder Cos.

In addition to giving job seekers a better understanding of what a role might pay, the rule would allow existing employees to compare their salary with the ranges shown in open roles while giving companies insight into pay practices. their rivals.

“It’s a big deal,” said Ian Carleton Schaefer, president of the New York employment and labor practice at law firm Loeb & Loeb. “Companies are going to have to very quickly become familiar with how they determine salaries based on equity criteria.”

The new law surprised some employers, say legal and business experts. The New York City Council passed the legislation in December and it was signed into law in January after Mayor Eric Adams refused to veto it. It changes the city’s administrative code to make it an “unlawful discriminatory practice” not to include pay scales in job postings.

Business groups like the Partnership for New York City, whose members include companies like JPMorgan Chase & Co. and International Business Machines Corp.

, oppose the law, even though they say they support efforts to promote greater pay transparency and gender equity.

Kathryn Wylde, chief executive of the Partnership for New York City, said the measure reinforces the perception that New York is hostile to business. Many employers worry that disclosing salaries will be cumbersome and time-consuming to implement, she said, because not all companies have pay ranges for every job category.

“It’s just the wrong solution,” Ms Wylde said. “He should never have been allowed through.”

The Partnership plans to lobby the city to delay implementation of the law. A spokesperson for Mayor Adams did not respond to requests for comment on the timing of the measure.

In 2017, New York City banned private employers from pressuring job seekers to disclose their salary history, and states like California, Washington and Colorado have enacted similar labor laws. pay equity in recent years.

The New York City Commission on Human Rights, which enforces human rights laws, said it plans to initially help businesses and employees understand the new pay provision of the city.

“Our immediate goal is not to penalize, but to educate and work with the city’s business community, while ensuring that those discriminated against can receive damages,” said Sapna V. Raj, deputy law commissioner of the commission. enforcement office, in a statement.

The commission will receive complaints from the public about whether the job postings meet the requirements of the law and will conduct its own tests and investigations to look into potential violations, Ms Raj said.

Ms Raj said the law requires employers to post realistic pay scales and the commission could take steps to ensure they do. The law does not define a realistic range.

Some employers have already started disclosing salaries to applicants. Textio Inc., a company whose software analyzes job postings and recruiting materials to make recommendations for improvement, this year began including compensation information in each of its external job postings. Company employees work remotely from nine states, including New York.

The company wanted to “lead the way” on transparency internally and within its industry, said Jackye Clayton, vice president of talent acquisition and diversity, equity and inclusion. at Textio, in a press release.

Some people who have applied for jobs in recent years say they welcome advance information about potential salary.

Michael Tjaden, a 26-year-old who lives in New York, said he applied for hundreds of jobs last year and often found the process inefficient. In one case, an employer only released salary information at the end of a multi-step interview process, offering a job that paid around half of what Mr Tjaden had expected. “If I had known the lineup, I wouldn’t have wasted my time, our two times,” he said.

Mr. Schaefer, the labor lawyer, said he also expects existing employees to review vacancies at their companies to determine where their salary falls within a salary range. This could then put pressure on managers, with employees asking, “Why am I not on the high end?” he said.

Although many companies have conducted compensation audits in recent years, Schaefer said he expects the New York measure and others like it will cause companies to reassess whether they feel up to it. comfortable with their pay scales and where people fall on them.

“It’s all over there,” he said. “The curtain has been drawn.”

Write to Chip Cutter at [email protected]