Beginning May 15, 2022, employers that have four or more workers advertising jobs in New York City must include a good faith salary range for every job, promotion, and transfer opportunity advertised. The New York City Commission on Human Rights (“NYCCHR”) has issued a fact sheet answering some open questions regarding application of this new law.  We advise employers to review the “Fact Sheet” in its entirety, which can be found HERE.  Following is a review of the highlights from the NYCCHR Fact Sheet.

Which job listings are covered by the new law?

The pay transparency requirement applies to any advertisement for a job, promotion or transfer opportunity in New York City. “Advertisement” is defined by the NYCCHR to mean “a written description . . . that is publicized to a pool of potential applicants” in any medium, including postings on internal bulletin boards or the Internet, printed flyers and newspaper listings.

The Fact Sheet notes that employers are not required to use advertisements to hire and the obligation to disclose salary range does not apply to opportunities that are not advertised.

Does the law apply to employers based outside of New York City?

The law applies to employers based outside of New York City if they have a total of four or more employees (or one or more domestic workers) and at least one of those employees works in New York City.  The law applies to employment agencies regardless of size, but temporary help firms that hire a pool of their own employees to perform work for other organizations are not covered.

Does the pay transparency requirement cover remote or field workers? 

The law applies to advertisements for a job, promotion or transfer opportunity “that can or will be performed, in whole or in part, in New York City”, regardless of whether the employee is working out of an office, in the field or remotely from their home in the city of New York. 

Are independent contractors included?

Yes, all workers that are protected by the New York City Human Rights Law are equally protected by the pay transparency law – including independent contractors, full-time employees, part-time employees, interns, and domestic workers.

What information must be included in covered job advertisements?

Employers must state the minimum and maximum salary they in good faith believe at the time of the posting they are willing to pay for the advertised job, promotion, or transfer opportunity. “Good faith” means the salary range the employer honestly believes at the time they are listing the job advertisement that they are willing to pay the successful applicant(s).  Employers must include both a minimum and a maximum salary; the range cannot be open ended.

New York City employers should begin to prepare to comply with the recently enacted law.  However, since the enaction of the new law, a bill has been introduced before the New York City Council that would amend the recently enacted law to exclude employers with less than 15 employees from these posting requirements and delay the effective date to November 1, 2022.  Significantly, the proposed amendment would exclude any positions that are not required to be performed (at least in part) in New York City. 

We will continue to closely monitor and report on further developments with regard to this law.  Should you have any questions, please contact ALG.