NYC Employers May Soon be Required to Post Minimum and Maximum Salary in Job Postings
On December 15, 2021, the New York City Council approved a bill that, if enacted, would require New York City employers to include the minimum and maximum salary in job postings. The Mayor has not yet signed the bill. This is the latest attempt by NYC to promote greater pay transparency and is part of a broader trend across the country of salary disclosure laws. While a number of cities and states require employers to disclose pay ranges or minimum salaries upon an applicant’s request (e.g., California, Maryland, Nevada, Washington) or at the time of an offer of compensation (e.g., Connecticut, which requires disclosure at the time of offer or at the applicant’s request, whichever comes first); Colorado is the only other jurisdiction to currently require disclosure of pay ranges in job advertisements.
The bill would amend the New York City Human Rights Law, and thus impose the new requirement on all employers with four or more employees, including independent contractors. Specifically, employers would be required to include the minimum and maximum salary range in any advertisement for a job, promotion, or transfer opportunity. The bill says that in stating the minimum and maximum salary, the range may extend from the lowest to the highest salary the employer in good faith believes at the time of the posting it would pay for the advertised job, promotion, or transfer opportunity. Failing to include such information would be an unlawful discriminatory practice under the New York City Human Rights Law.
The law would take effect 120 days after enactment.
The bill presents several open questions that employers should discuss with counsel before instituting compliance measures. First, the law does not define “salary,” so it is not clear if information pertaining to bonuses or other compensation and fringe benefits must be included in job advertisements. Second, while prior versions of the bill stated specifically that it applied to “a listing for employment within the city of New York” that language was removed from the final bill. As a result, it is not clear whether these requirements apply only to job advertisements for positions based in New York City, or also for jobs located anywhere in the United States if the employer is based in New York City. With the similar Colorado law, many of these points were clarified in subsequent guidance documents. We will continue to monitor for guidance from the New York City Commission on Human Rights on these points.
Employers should prepare to include salary ranges in postings for jobs, promotions, and transfers in anticipation of the bill becoming law. If you have any questions regarding revising your job advertisements, please contact Amanda M. Baker at abaker@fglawllc.com or any attorney at the Firm.
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