State lawmakers look to require salary ranges and benefits in job postings

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

..... Negotiating pay - it's one of the most delicate dances when applying for a new job. you may not know how much your employer will pay. How much can you ask for?
..... For anyone seeking employment in New Jersey, the compensation question could get a little bit easier, thanks to a bill state lawmakers approved during a Thursday [06/06/2024] committee hearing.
..... The proposed Senate Bill 2310 requires New Jersey businesses with 10 or more employees to include wage or salary information, or a compensation range, in a job posting, as well as a description of all job benefits.
..... State lawmakers approved the measure, also called a pay transparency law, by a 9-1 vote during the Thursday [06/06/2024] Assembly Labor committee hearing. It was also approved by the Senate Labor Committee in a 4-0 vote on May 6. [2024]
..... "The hiring process largely wastes a lot of time between employers and employees, who do this kabuki dance where you bring people and have interviews and if you like them they come back for another interview and not until you make an offer do people actually find out what the job entails in terms of compensation,' said the bill's sponsor, State Senator Paul Moriarty, D-Gloucester. "It seems like a large waste of time."
..... In the state Senate, the measure next goes for a vote before the budget and appropriations Committee at an unspecified date.
..... Violations of the law, if it is enacted, would carry a 4300 fine for the first-time offence and $600 for any offenses afterward. In previous version of the bill, the violation carried much steeper penalties, as high as $10,000 in some instances.
..... Moriarty said that even with the lower fines, the bill would still have teeth.
..... Besides fines, you open yourself up to civil litigation," he told NorthJersey.com . "You can't just thumb your nose to the law."
..... "In the beginning people may not understand the law and they could end up with some really large fines," he said.
..... Mike Egention, executive vice president of government relations and a lobbyist with the new Jersey Chamber of Commence,s aid it was the lower fines that ended the trade group's opposition to the bill, thought the group still doesn't necessarily support the measure.
..... "I have faith in my members, that they're good actors and they do the right thing," he told Assembly lawmakers on Thursday. [06/06/2024]
..... This latest version marks the second att4empt by lawmakers to pas the bill. A previous iteration of the legislation only saw movement in an Assembly committee in December last year. [2023]

Salary ranges in job-postings in Jersey City already

..... Jersey City in 2022 adopted its own pay transparency ordinance, which applies to employers of at least five workers. The city council and mayor rolled out a public awareness campaign last year. [2023]
..... Councilman Youself Saleh, who sponsored the provision, said the focus of the ordinance has gone form its enactment to education an now enforcement.
..... "It's been education," he said, for both the obligation of employers and the rights of job seekers.
..... Advocates say the measure evens the playing field for job seekers and can help close the wage gaps faced by women and minorities.
..... "Think of going to a grocery store - you don't have to negotiate with the checkout clerk. there's a clear price and you pay the rice," Christopher To, an assistant professor of human resources management at Rutgers University, said in a 2022 interview. "With pay transparency companies are required to make the first offer, and employees can simply walk away if they don't like it.
..... "Will there still be salary negotiations?" Sure. But you're reducing the 'how much do you want?' dance by making your information public." To said.

New York's law

..... New York City got its own pay disclosure law in 2022, followed by New York state this year. [2024] Connecticut added one in 2021. But some New York City employers have used loopholes in the pay requirement law. In some cases, they're included huge salary ranges as wide as $2 million, a CNBC report said. Still, labor analysts say the trend is catching on around the country.
..... Indeed Hiring lab reported that as of August 2023, half of U.S. job positions had "at least some employer-provided salary information," which was "the highest share yet recorded" on the job posting website.
..... Between August 2022 ad 2023, the percentage of postings in New York State hat featured some level of pay disclosure doubled from 31% to 61%m Indeed Hiring Lab reported

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