Pending state law on job listings may mean less mystery about pay

Pay transparency laws have been cropping up all over the country with more than a dozen states and municipalities having passed such legislation. Now New York will join that growing list if a measure that’s already approved by the Legislature gets signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul.

Among its provisions is a requirement for employers with four or more employees to disclose salary ranges in job postings in an attempt to level the playing field for applicants.

"This law, and others like it, showcase a proactive way for employers to help close the wage gap that also has positive effects on the recruitment process and in turn may even help with retention,” says Rob Boersma, VP of SMB at Talent.com, a global job search platform. That company recently conducted a survey looking at the importance of salary disclosure in job postings online to respondents when seeking a new position. 

In that survey, 98% of respondents said it was important to know the job’s salary before applying.

Yet as of Aug. 31, only 12% of U.S. jobs posted online disclosed salary, according to Talent.com, whose site currently hosts 50 million job listings globally, including 25 million in the United States.

If New York’s legislation becomes law, the actual compensation or range of compensation would have to be included on all advertisements for a job, promotion, or a transfer opportunity where the job in question will be performed at least, in part, in New York State, says Keith Gutstein, co-managing partner of the Woodbury office of Kaufman Dolowich & Voluck LLP. It also would require the posting to include a job description if it exists, he says. See https://tinyurl.com/3tfmfck9

As for its status, the governor’s office stated she "is reviewing the legislation.”

Meanwhile, a similar law will take effect in New York City on Nov. 1, but doesn’t include the requirement to include a job description, Gutstein says.

Consider that even without these laws, “salary’s always been one of, if not the top consideration for job seekers for a long time,” Boersma says.

Empowering job seekers

“With salary being so important to know, and the job hunt being a time-consuming and sometimes stressful process, job seekers like to feel empowered with more knowledge early on to make better decisions,” he says.

Pay transparency also helps close the wage gaps that can often exist based on gender and race.

“It puts the salary range out in the open in an effort to further pay equity,” says John Diviney, a partner in the employment and labor practice group at Rivkin Radler LLP in Uniondale.

Still, there could be multiple reasons employers don’t disclose salary in postings, from trying not to tip off competitors to not wanting to limit the applicant pool.

Gutstein says he finds most clients don’t list salary ranges in job postings. One reason: it could limit applicants to a position since they only see the dollar value and perhaps not other job benefits, he says.

Diviney says he also finds most clients leave out salary ranges.

But he said that would change with this legislation.

“I do think it could become law in New York,” says Diviney. “ A number of states already have it.”

Transparency in job descriptions

But New York State adding the part about including a job description in the posting if it exists goes “farther than other states or New York City has gone,” he says.

There needs to be more guidance on this considering “some job descriptions are two pages. How do you do that in a job posting?,” he says.

If signed, it’s anticipated there’d be regulatory guidance from the Department of Labor before it takes effect, Diviney says.

The legislation would impact those with four or more employees, but temporary help firms are excluded from compliance, says Melissa Camire, a partner in Fisher Phillips’ Manhattan office.

Also, for positions compensated solely on a commission basis, employers can comply with the law by including a general statement that compensation will be based on commissions, she says.

As part of the legislation, employers would also be required to keep records that show the history of compensation ranges for each job opportunity and the job description for the position, she says.

Some steps to consider include assessing your policies for determining salaries, make adjustments where necessary and determine and document pay ranges for all positions, Camire says, outlining more steps at https://tinyurl.com/mr3ps53z                      

By Jamie Herzlich

jherzlich@aol.com

Herzlich writes the Small Business column in Newsday.