Pay Transparency Laws to Watch in the New Year

Pay Transparency Laws have been passed all over the country and it’s not expected to slow down in 2024. In 2023, Illinois, New York, Rhode Island, Washington, California, and Hawaii joined the list of states that will require more pay transparency. As more of these laws are passed, it’s important to understand which laws you’re subject to and determine how you want to prepare so you can comply. Below are some of the pay transparency bills that are pending for the New Year:

Massachusetts: The new law, if passed, would require covered employers, employers with 25 or more employees in the commonwealth, to disclose the pay range for a particular and specific employment position in job postings or advertisements. Employers would also be required to disclose the pay range for a position to employees offered a promotion or transfer to a new job with different responsibilities and for the employee’s current job upon request. Additionally, employers with 100 or more full time employees in Massachusetts anytime during the preceding year and who are subject to federal filing requirements of wage data reports (such as EEO-1, EEO-3, EEO-4, or EEO-5) must submit a copy of their federal filings to the state secretary, which will then be submitted to the executive office of labor and workforce development.

Michigan: Michigan has two pay transparency related bills that are currently pending. HB4406 would require employers to provide employees wage information for similarly situated employees covering a period of up to 3 years before the date of the request. Employers would be required to provide this information within 30 days of the employee’s request. Names would be redacted but information regarding sex and seniority of the similarly situated employees would still be required. Additionally, wage information includes bonuses, overtime, and other forms of compensation that were provided to the similarly situated employees. SB142 would require employers with 5 or more employees to create and maintain a job description for each position that contains the following: a list of the essential duties and responsibilities, description of the skills, training, and effort required to perform the job, the working conditions and schedule under which the job is performed, and salary information including any pay scale if any. The job description is to be made available during the recruitment, hiring, or promotion process and to any employee upon request. Additionally, employers shall not apply a revised job description to a current employee until that employee has been given the opportunity to review and initial the revised job description.

New Jersey: Currently Jersey City has a wage transparency law that has been in effect since April 2022 that requires employers with 5 or more employees within Jersey City provide a minimum and maximum salary and/or hourly wage and benefits on job postings. However, the proposed Assembly Bill 3937 would require all New Jersey employers with 10 or more employees to include wage or salary information, or a compensation range in a job posting, in addition to a description of all benefits. Employers who violate this act will be subject to a civil penalty not to exceed $1,000 for the first violation, $5,000 for the second violation, and $10,000 for each subsequent violation.

Washington, D.C: On December 19^th, the District of Columbia Counsel passed the Wage Transparency Omnibus Amendment Act of 2023 which would require employers to provide a minimum and maximum salary or hourly rate in all job postings and positions descriptions, and require them to disclose to applicants the schedule of benefits, including bonuses, healthcare and other wellness benefits, stocks, bonds, options, equity, and nonmonetary remunerations before the first interview. The bill would also prohibit employers from screening applicants on their wage history or asking for an applicant’s wage history. The targeted effective date is June 30, 2024 but the bill must first go through review by the mayor and congress.

Proposed FSLA Amendment: On March 14, 2023 HR1599 was proposed which would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to require public or internal employment opportunity postings to include the wage or wage range. Violators would be subject to a civil penalty of $5,000 for the first violation, increased by an additional $1,000 for each subsequent violation not to exceed $10,000.