As we detailed in a recent Thomson Reuters article, wage transparency laws have become the latest trend in US workplace-related legislation. Such laws have, to date, been enacted in noteworthy locales such as California, Colorado and New York City. On December 21, 2022, New York State became the latest jurisdiction to adopt a wage transparency law.

The new law requires that virtually every job, promotion or internal transfer opportunity that is advertised by an Empire State business include the compensation or a “range of compensation” for such job, promotion or transfer opportunity. The law defines “range of compensation” as “the minimum and maximum annual salary or hourly range of compensation for a job, promotion or transfer opportunity that the employer in good faith believes to be accurate at the time of the posting of an advertisement for such opportunity.”

The law also requires that any such advertisement include the job description for the corresponding job, promotion, or transfer opportunity, if such description exists. This is a requirement that is not included in most of the other wage transparency laws that have previously been adopted nationwide.

Beyond the above, the law also includes provisions providing separate rules for job advertisements for roles that are paid solely on a commission basis; barring retaliation against individuals who exercise their rights under the law; and imposing additional recordkeeping requirements on employers.

Though the law does not take effect until September 17, 2023, employers will want to start preparing for compliance now. This is for a host of reasons, including that the law likely applies to any role that will or can be performed in New York State. This means that job advertisements for fully remote roles likely fall within the scope of the new law (though it is also likely that, between now and September 2023, the New York State Department of Labor will issue guidance in this regard).