City Commission on Human Rights Files Complaints to Ensure Compliance
In 2022, New York City passed a law making it an “unlawful discriminatory practice” under the city’s Human Rights Law for employers to post or advertise any job or employment opportunity without including the expected salary range in the advertisement. Any such advertisement must clearly state the lowest and highest pay rates the employer in good faith expects to pay at the time the advertisement is posted.
The New York City pay transparency law echoes a legislative trend that started gradually a few years ago, but has gained significant traction over the past three to four years. There are now pay transparency laws that apply to contractors and subcontractors on federal job. In 2023, the state of New York joined California, Rhode Island, Illinois, Washington and Hawaii in enacting statewide pay transparency laws. Michigan, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Washington, DC are poised to add similar legislation in 2024.
In 2023, the Commission on Human Rights cited more than 30 employers for alleged violation of the law, including some prominent online job forums, such as CareerBuilder.com and Monster.com. Thus far, New York City officials have not levied fines against any of the infringing companies, seeking instead to try to bring them into compliance.
Spokespersons for the job search websites say they often receive postings that do not include the required language to comply with the pay transparency laws. In the past, many of the online job search sites would estimate pay ranges in an attempt to comply. Industry officials say that practice has generally been abandoned. In addition, most online job search companies now refuse to accept job posts that do not comply with the New York City laws.
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