Hunton Employment & Labor Perspectives

As pay equity and transparency continues to trend in the news, states and localities have passed pay disclosure and transparency laws to further assist employees in evaluating whether they are being paid fairly. These laws vary in scope – some require the disclosure of pay ranges on job postings, others require employers to provide the pay scale for a position upon an applicant or employee’s request, and others require employers to automatically provide pay scale information at the time of hire. Despite their differences, all of these pay disclosure laws are aimed at adding transparency to conversations about pay.

At least thirteen jurisdictions have enacted pay disclosure or transparency laws, each with unique requirements for employer compliance:

California: Employers must provide a position’s pay scale to applicants and employees upon request. Employers with 15 or more employees must include a position’s pay scale in job postings.

Colorado: All employers must disclose in each job posting the hourly or salary compensation, or a range of the compensation, and a general description of all of the benefits and other compensation to be offered to the applicant.

Connecticut: All employers must provide a position’s wage range at the earliest of either the applicant’s request or at the time of making the applicant an offer of compensation. Employers must also provide applicants and employees with the wage range for their position upon hiring, a change in position with the employers, or their first request for a wage range.

Illinois: Current employees may request anonymized data for the pay rates of employees in their job title or job classification, limited to their employer and limited to the county where the employee works.

Maryland: All employers must provide applicants, upon request, with the wage range for the position for which they are applying.

Nevada: All employers must provide a position’s wage or salary range or rate to an applicant who interviews for the position. Employers also must provide current employees with the wage or salary range or rate for a promotion or transfer to a new position if the employee applies for the promotion or transfer, interviews for or is offered the promotion or transfer, and requests that range or rate.

New Jersey

• Jersey City, New Jersey: Employers with 5 or more employees must disclose in each job posting the minimum and maximum salary range and benefits.

New York: Employers with 4 or more employees must disclose in each job posting the pay range that the employer in good faith believes to be accurate for that position at the time of posting. See our prior post regarding New York here.

• Albany County, New York: Employers must disclose in each job posting the minimum and maximum salary or hourly wage for such position

• Ithaca, New York: Employers with 4 or more employees must disclose in each job posting the minimum and maximum hourly or salary compensation.

• New York City, New York: Employers with 4 or more employees must disclose in each job posting the minimum and maximum hourly or salary compensation.

• Westchester County, New York: Employers with 4 or more employees must disclose in each job posting the minimum and maximum salary.

Ohio

• Cincinnati, Ohio: Employers with 15 or more employees must provide the pay scale to applicants who make a reasonable request after receiving a conditional offer of employment.

• Toledo, Ohio: Employers with 15 or more employees must provide the pay scale to applicants who make a reasonable request after receiving a conditional offer of employment.

Rhode Island: All employers must provide applicants, upon request, with the wage range for the position for which they are applying. If the applicant does not request the wage range, employers should provide it prior to discussing compensation. Employers must provide current employees, upon request, the wage range for their position at any time during their employment.

Washington: After a conditional offer of employment is made, employers with 15 employees or more must provide the minimum wage or salary for a position to applicants who request it. Employers must disclose wage or salary ranges to current employees, upon request, who have been offered a new position or promotion. Employers must disclose in each job posting the opening wage scale or salary range, and a general description of all benefits and other compensation to be offered. We anticipate that more states and localities will pass pay disclosure and transparency laws as employees continue to demand more information related to pay equity. Accordingly, employers should continue to monitor pay disclosure and transparency legislation in states where they operate. Moreover, employers should consider conducting privileged pay equity analyses to ensure compliance, understand risks, and investigate and mitigate potential disparities.