On December 21, 2022, the State caught up with New York City by passing a statewide mandatory compensation disclosure act, S9427A, which will be effective on September 17, 2023.
The new law, Labor Law 194-b, requires that all employers and agencies only advertise a job, promotion, or transfer if they also provide the compensation or compensation range together with a job description.
While no job description is required if it does not exist, be warned that the law applies even if only a part of the job is to be performed in New York.
Yet, that's all we know... FOR NOW.
However, there will be more because the Department of Labor is charged with promulgating additional rules and regulations. So, stay tuned.
Hopefully, these rules will include a notice before violation provision where an employer can cure before being penalized like the City's version.
The penalties are big - they are $1,000 for the first violation, $2,000 for the second, and $3,000 for subsequent violations. Nonetheless, the real risk is that it's conceivable that a court could find that one mistake could result in thousands of violations based on the number of positions available, applicants, and varying web aggregators that reproduce the job post.
That is all setting aside a company's real exposure.
Now, employees are going to know if they have claims under the Equal Pay Act or if they've been otherwise discriminated in the terms of their employment. This is big!
