Businesses with at least one New York City-based worker will be required by law to add salary ranges to their job postings, effective Nov. 1, The New York Times reported.
The law applies to any company with at least four employees, and it requires employers to include the highest and lowest salary it pays for any job it posts. The requirement stands for jobs posted everywhere from internal boards to public sites, and it applies to companies based in New York City that offer remote positions elsewhere, according to the Times' Oct. 28 report.
There will be no fine for first-time offenses, but subsequent violations could result in fines up to $250,000, the Times reported.
Opinions on the law are mixed, according to the Times. Some applicants may find the salary ranges too far apart to be useful, while others will find it helpful in narrowing their job search to companies that can meet their expectations.
Similar laws implemented in other countries, such as in Denmark, have been shown to narrow the pay gap between men and women, Tae-Youn Park, PhD, an associate professor of human resource studies at Ithaca, N.Y.-based Cornell University, told the Times. The law may also force employers to compare their pay ranges to other companies and adjust accordingly, and it could empower underpaid workers to ask for better wages, according to Dr. Park.
The law could also lead applicants to negotiate toward the higher end of the posted salary range, Glenn Grindlinger, an employment lawyer at Chicago-based Fox Rothschild, told the Times. Mr. Grindlinger said companies based outside New York City may be deterred from hiring remote employees who live there, or allowing current ones to move there, to avoid complying with the law.
Colorado implemented a similar law earlier this year, and California and Washington state plan to follow suit in 2023, according to the Times.