New York salary law aimed at boosting equal pay for US workers takes effect

Help-wanted advertisements in New York will have to disclose proposed pay rates after a statewide salary transparency law goes into effect on Sunday, part of growing state and city efforts to give women and people of colour a tool to advocate for equal pay for equal work.

Employers with at least four workers will be required to disclose salary ranges for any job advertised externally to the public or internally to workers interested in a promotion or transfer.

Pay transparency, supporters say, will prevent employers from offering some job candidates less or more money based on age, gender, race or other factors not related to their skills.

Advocates believe the change also could help underpaid workers realise they make less than people doing the same job.

A similar pay transparency ordinance has been in effect in New York City since 2022. Now, the rest of the state joins a handful of others with similar laws, including 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 law, signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul in 2022, also will apply to remote employees who work outside of New York but report to a supervisor, office or worksite-based in the state. The law would not apply to government agencies or temporary help firms.

'Unintentional noncompliance'

Compliance will be a challenge, said Frank Kerbein, director of human resources at the New York Business Council, which has criticised the law for putting an additional administrative burden on employers.

“We have small employers who don’t even know about the law," said Kerbein, who predicted there would be “a lot of unintentional noncompliance.”

To avoid trouble when setting a salary range, an employer should examine pay for current employees, said Allen Shoikhetbrod, who practices employment law at Tully Rinckley, a private law firm.

State Senator Jessica Ramos, a Democrat representing parts of Queens, said the law is a win for labour rights groups.

“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."