Currently, for New Yorkers in the middle of a job hunt, applying for a position represents a significant gamble. As an applicant, you are betting that a job position is worth the time and effort required to go through the application and interviewing process.
If the interviewer withholds salary range information until you have undergone several interviews, you might discover that a job pays much less than you are prepared to settle for – and that you have wasted time that you could have used to pursue other opportunities. New legislation in New York City seeks to solve this problem for the millions of city residents that are currently seeking new employment.
What the new legislation does
The new legislation is a modification of an existing law, the New York City Human Rights Law. Now, in addition to protecting worker rights, the law will require potential employers to list the pay range for a position in its job listing on all websites, newspapers and other places where they advertise the position.
Despite the use of the term “salary” in the wording of the legislation, the law does not just apply to salaried positions. Employers that pay an hourly wage must also list the range of pay for any job that they list. This new requirement will come into effect on May 15th, 2022.
The reasoning behind the legislation
The New York City Council enacted this new law in an attempt to require transparency in the hiring process for the benefit of workers. The purpose of the bill is to combat perceived inequity and discriminatory pay practices by making potential – and current – employees aware of what they can shoot for in salary negotiations, ensuring that they do not end up with significantly less pay for performing the same work duties as their co-workers.
With luck, this new piece of legislation will remove the headache from the salary negotiation process for job-seeking New Yorkers, and provide them with the knowledge that they need to seek fair and honest compensation for their work.