NYC Amends Pay Transparency Law

Seyfarth Synopsis:  Yesterday, New York City Mayor Eric Adams signed into law an amendment to New York City’s pay transparency law. Importantly, the amendment will push the law’s effective date to November 1, 2022 and add several other key provisions regarding the availability of a private right of action, as well as an employer’s ability to cure an alleged violation without penalty. 

As previously reported here, under New York City’s pay transparency law, employers that advertise a job, promotion, or transfer opportunity must include the minimum and maximum salary for the position in the advertisement.  The originally-passed law was set to go into effect on May 15, 2022.  The amended law will push back the law’s effective date to November 1, 2022 and make the following key changes:

• Clarify that the law does not apply to “[p]ositions that cannot or will not be performed, at least in part, in the city of New York.”
• Clarify that the disclosure includes annual salary or hourly wage, whichever is applicable.
• Limit the availability of a private right of action to employees bringing claims against their current employers (i.e., not applicants).
• Specify that civil penalties will be $0 for a first violation if the employer proves that the violation has been cured within 30 days. Importantly, the submission of proof of a cure will be “deemed an admission of liability for all purposes.”

We expect that the NYC Commission on Human Rights will update its Fact Sheet to incorporate the amendment’s changes.

What Employers Should Do Now

While employers have been given a bit more breathing room for implementation, it would be wise for New York City employers to take immediate steps to ensure that they are ready to comply with the law on November 1, 2022.

Employers should evaluate the practical implications of adding appropriate pay ranges to New York City positions, and training hiring managers, talent acquisition professionals, and human resources employees on the requirements of the law. 

Multi-state employers should also assess their practices with respect to advertising internal and external opportunities in light of the growing trend of requiring pay disclosures in job postings in multiple jurisdictions across the country – (e.g., Colorado, Jersey City, NJ, Ithaca, NY (effective 9/1/22), Westchester County, NY (effective 180 days after signing by the County Executive), and Washington (effective 1/1/23)) with pending bills making their way through the legislative process (e.g., California, Massachusetts, and New York State).   In addition, employers should consider conducting an internal evaluation of employee compensation to determine whether there are discrepancies that should be addressed before publishing pay ranges.

As always, Seyfarth’s Pay Equity Group is available to assist employers in navigating these new requirements and ensuring that they are ready for the ongoing trend toward greater pay transparency generally, including developing protocols for nationwide compliance.