UPDATE: Governor Signs Amendments to New York State Pay Transparency Law

New York's Governor Kathy Hochul has signed amendments to the New York State Wage Transparency Law, which will be effective September 17, 2023.

As reported in our previous advisories, the law will require New York employers with four (4) or more employees to include, in all advertisements for jobs, promotions, and transfer opportunities, the "minimum and maximum annual salary or hourly range of compensation" that "the employer in good faith believes to be accurate at the time of the posting of an advertisement." The law also requires employers to post a job description (but only if one already exists).

The amendments address three areas: the law's application to remote positions, what is considered a job posting, and recordkeeping requirements.

Remote Positions

Under the amended law, the posting requirement will apply to "a job, promotion, or transfer opportunity that will be physically performed outside of New York but reports to a supervisor, office, or other work site in New York." This amendment makes it clear that the posting requirement will apply for fully remote positions where the employee is not physically located in New York State as long as the employee reports to someone located in New York State.

Job Posting

The law, as originally enacted, did not contain a definition of what it meant to "advertise" a job, promotion, or transfer opportunity. The amendment clarifies this by defining "advertise" to mean making "available to a pool of potential applicants for internal or public viewing, including electronically, a written description of an employment opportunity." This definition is consistent with the definition used in the New York City Wage Transparency Law, as reported here.

Recordkeeping

The amendment relieves covered employers of the requirement to maintain records of the compensation ranges and job descriptions for each job, promotion or transfer opportunity.

Next Steps

As we previously recommended, employers in New York should review their current compensation ranges to assess whether to make any changes to attract new candidates or retain current employees. Employers should also determine whether they have existing job descriptions, and consider whether any changes should be made to those descriptions, which would have to be included in advertisements under the law. Finally, in light of these amendments, employers should review reporting lines to determine whether a fully remote position performed outside of New York State will report to someone in New York State.

We will continue to monitor for further developments and will provide new information when it becomes available.