ALBANY, N.Y. (WTEN/WROC) — A law signed by Governor Kathy Hochul regarding pay transparency will take effect this upcoming Sunday.
Once the regulations take effect, employment agencies and all employers with a minimum of four employees must include a salary or salary range for all advertised jobs and promotions.
The range should show the job postings’ minimum and maximum annual salary or hourly compensation range that the employer believes in good faith to be accurate. All employers must also disclose the job description and keep records of the compensation ranges.
According to Governor Hochul, the purpose of the law is to empower job candidates with pay information and to address pay inequity and wage discrimination practices.
“In order for New York to continue being the best place to work, we must create the best protection for our workers – and this legislation will help do exactly that. This historic measure will usher in a new era of fairness and transparency for New York’s workforce.”
According to Kathy Richmond, the Rochester Chamber of Commerce’s senior director of HR services, the state published the then-proposed rules on Wednesday, so it’s expected that more than a few employers may not be prepared for something like this.
In a statement, Richmond says that New York’s pay transparency rules will put employers in the hot seat once they post the pay ranges for job candidates to see. In part, she says:
“There will be hard questions being asked and employers will have to try and explain why new employees may be paid more than someone that has been with them for several years,” Richmond says. “Morale is likely to be impacted as a result and the employer will need to work hard to convince those employees that they are indeed valued regardless of their pay rate and that the organization will do what they can to make it right, though it may take time.
Richmond adds that it still remains to be seen whether these rules will make a difference in pay inequity and discrimination, but that it will open the door for conversations to be had toward building a better workplace.
“More specifically with this latest push the goal is to make it more transparent so that everybody knows what everyone is making in order to make it easier to combat racial and gender disparity in pay,” Attorney Jared Cook at Tully Rinckey told News 8.
