Pay must be listed when NJ firms post jobs

Law for those with 10 or more workers stats June 1 [2025]

By: Danial Munoz
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey

..... Many New Jersey businesses must include in job postings starting on June 1 [2025] how much they would pay a new employee, a move that proponents say streamlines the hiring process and creates fairer salary negotiates for job applicants, along with making the state more competitive with neighboring New York City.
..... The law, by Governor Phil Murphy in October 2024, requires New Jersey businesses with 10 or more employees to include wage or salary information, or a compensations range, in a job posting, and a description of all job benefits.
..... New Jersey follows states such as Connecticut, which began the requirement in 2021, and New York, which started the requirement this year [2025 after New York City began requiring it in 2022.
..... Since 2023, other states that have required employers to include pay information in job postings are California, Colorado, Maryland, Nevada, Rhode Island and Washington, said the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning Washington think tank.
.... "We're not having that dance, that sort of awkward dance where you don't want to say what you want to say about what you need in terms of pay,' said Helena Almeida, vice president and general counsel at the payroll and human resource firm ADP.
..... "A lot of that is cut out, which makes a potentially more streamlined and focused match between new talent and the hiring company," she said.
..... The law will make New Jersey competitive with New York City, given the city's existing requirement that employers include pay in job positing, said Christopher To, an assistant professor of human resources management at Rutgers University.
..... And it could be particularly useful for businesses close to the city, To said.
..... Violations of the law will carry a $00 find for a first-time offense and $600 for any offenses afterward. in previous versions of the bill, the violations carried much steeper penalties, as high as 410,000 in some instances.
..... State Senator Paul Moriarty, D-Gloucester, previously told NorthJersey.com that even with the lower fines, the law will have teeth.
..... "Besides fines, you open yourself up to civil litigation, he said in an interview last year. [2024] "You can't just thumb you nose to the law."

Pay already in more postings

..... As of February 2023, 56% of job postings for North Jersey and the New York City metro area on job search engine site indeed had a salary range, while less than 24% had salary information in February the previous year, [2022] reported Indeed Hiring Lab.
..... Advocates say the measure evens the playing field for job seekers and can help close the wage gaps faced by women and minorities.
..... To that end, a law went into effect shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic barred employers form asking job applicants about their salary histories.
..... Proponents of that measure said it also tackled any potential gender-driven wage gaps by taking in pay negotiation during the hiring process.
..... |"Knowing how much they were paid in the past is irrelevant and oftentimes leads to a cycle of pay inequity," reads a 2019 statement from then-state Senator Loretta Weinberg, D-Teaneck.
..... That's because an applicant might not see as big a jump from their current pay if asked by their prospective employer what there current income is, said proponents of the bill.

Jersey city law came first.

..... Jersey City in 2022 adopted its own pay requirement ordinance, which applies to employers of at least five workers.
..... Local Councilman Yousef Saleh said that in Jersey City, there has been an emphasis on education, for both the responsibilities of employers and the rights of workers.
..... The law firm Fox Rothschild said "the new law does not supersede local pay transparency laws, which can impose stricter requirements.

$2 million salary ranges

.... In New York City, some employers included salary ranges as wide as $2 million, CMBC and Gothamist have reported.
.... Other salary ranges were in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, CNBC reported
..... "I suspect you'll have a few cases of unreasonable ranges in New Jersey particularly in the beginning, as some HR folks are unprepared for this," said To, the Rutgers human resources assistant professor.
..... Many more companies are posting realistic salary ranges, says form $40,000 to 480,000, said Anthony Russo, president of the Commerce and Industry Association of New Jersey.

Are New Jersey firms ready?

..... Whether Garden State employers are ready for the new salary requirements remains to be seen.
..... "There has been a lot of confusion for multi-state companies, for example, and what this means for them if New Jersey is the only state where the law applies," said Elissa Frank, vice president of government affairs for the New Jersey Business and Industry Association.
..... And what if someone is paid less for working remotely than commuting to the office, or paid differently in North Jersey than in South Jersey, said Kathleen Caminiti, who co-chairs the wage and hour and pay equity group for the law firm Fisher & Phillips in Berkeley Heights.
..... "People are going to be taking about their wages," Caminiit said. "that is going to lead to employees comparing with each other what one is getting paid." doing so is protected and not a fire-able offence, she noted.
..... Still, Russo said this won't be entirely unfamiliar for employers.
..... "This is not anything new that should surprise many of the employers out there," Russo said.

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