Earlier this month, the New York State Senate passed a pay transparency bill similar to a New York City law passed last November. We wrote about the New York City law here and here. Senate Bill S9427A would apply to employers with four or more employers, but not to temporary employment firms. Like the New York City law, the bill would require employers to provide a “range of compensation” for positions that can or will be performed in New York State. The bill defines “range of compensation” to mean “the minimum and maximum salary or hourly range of compensation for a job, promotion, or transfer. . . that the employer in good faith believes to be accurate at the time of the positing.” The bill also imposes recordkeeping requirements, and civil penalties for violations.

Despite similarities with New York City’s law, the New York State law imposes some additional requirements on employers, including:

• the requirement to include job descriptions, if they exist, in postings and advertisements.
• disclosure in advertisements and job postings that pay is commission-based, where commissions are the only source of compensation.
• maintaining necessary records containing without limitation the history of compensation ranges for the applicable position.

The bill awaits Governor Hochul’s signature, and will take effect 270 days thereafter, which in any case will be after November 1, 2022, the date New York City’s law becomes effective. Employers in New York City would be required to comply with both city and state requirements.

Other states have enacted pay transparency laws in an effort to combat systemic pay inequity. For example, Connecticut amended its “Pay Equity” laws in October 2021 to require the disclosure of wage range information to new hires and employees who are promoted or transferred. This trend will continue as other states adopt some form of pay transparency legislation.

We will keep you posted on further developments regarding this bill.