NEW YORK (AP) – I want help. The work: implementation in practice of one of the most comprehensive laws on disclosure of salaries in the country. Location: New York.
Just four months ago, city lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to demand that many job advertisements in the country’s most populous city include pay ranges, in order to give jobseekers – especially women and people of color – better chance for fair pay. But on the threshold of the measure, lawmakers are likely to vote Thursday to postpone it for five months after employers waved red flags.
The debate is an important test of the growing list of US pay transparency laws. And the answer seems simple to the Brooklyn restaurant server Elizabeth Stone.
“I believe I deserve to know how much I can make as a waitress,” she said.
Stone searched for job advertisements that talked about pay, leaving her wondering if she should try to switch from an employer who likes but wants to pay more, and feels she has no leverage to push for a raise.
“You’re in a really challenging position of not wanting to upset your employer and not want to scare the opportunity, but you also want to fight for what you know you deserve,” said Stone, 23, a member of the restaurant group. advocacy of ROC United workers.
In the last four years, at least seven states from California to Connecticut and at least two cities across New York – Cincinnati and Toledo, Ohio – have begun requiring employers to disclose information about job seekers’ salaries in certain circumstances. In many cases this means on demand and / or after an interview and there are exceptions for small businesses.
Colorado has opened a new foundation with a 2019 law that requires a pay range in all job postings.
New York’s new law is similar, but only applies to employers with four or more workers. This represents about 1/3 of employers, but approximately 90% of workers in the city, according to statistics from the state ministry of labor.
The law says that any job advertisement, from online advertising to an internal company newsletter, must give the minimum and maximum salary that the employer “conscientiously believes” will pay. There is no limit to how wide the range can be, nor a ban on deviating from it if the good faith plan changes.
The laws are driven by a gradually shrinking but persistent discrepancy: the average pay for women full-time is about 83% of what men did in 2021, according to federal data.
Women earn less than their male counterparts in almost all areas, with a few exceptions in areas such as social work in health facilities, according to federal statistics.
Pay transparency requirements are “one of the most powerful tools we have to change these shortcomings,” said Beverly Neufeld, president of PowHer New York, an economic equality advocacy group. Workers are given a level playing field, she said, while companies increase efficiency by attracting candidates who are eligible for the salary they offer.
Indeed, many employers are already advertising what they pay for.
Others say they have good reasons not to.
Political consultant Amelia Adams said she was looking to make her own a small, minority-owned business, a good place to work, offering health benefits, opportunities to work directly with clients and the best pay she could. But she often does not advertise salaries for fear of repelling job seekers before she even gets a chance to speak.
“Publishing the salaries of small businesses owned by minorities and women creates a stigma that we are not competitive,” said Adams, whose New York business has four employees.
The nonprofit’s consultant, Yolanda F. Johnson, expressed similar concerns after she founded a professional group, Women of Color in Fundraising and Philanthropy, began requesting pay information for her posts on the job board last fall.
Johnson argues that the solution is to raise funds and other work to accumulate budgets, not to conceal salaries.
“If you think people will pass you by,” she said, “there are many different things you need to have to be a successful non-profit organization where you can pay people fairly.”
While small companies and nonprofits are worried about losing candidates, some large corporations are worried about posting salaries in New York for work that can be done from lower-cost locations. Some also fear a flood of resignations or demands for promotions once current employees see what new employees can get.
“You have your existing population that says, ‘Well, if that’s the range, why am I in the lower or middle side?’ … (I) can now see, as an employee of Company X, what an employee of Company Y is doing, ”said Ian Carlton Schaefer, an employment lawyer in New York who represents sports, entertainment, technology and other companies.
He advises clients to prepare for the new law by making sure their current pay structure is fair, and giving raises if not. However, some sought-after employers could decide to stop advertising jobs and rely on unsolicited CVs and other recruitment methods instead, or be more selective about which positions to post and where, Schaefer said.
Since the Colorado law went into effect last year, some large companies have announced jobs for workers everywhere except Colorado. The State Department of Labor and Employment did not respond to inquiries about the consequences of the law.
New York lawmakers are now proposing to change their legislation to make vacancies entirely elsewhere and to move the entry into force from May 15 to November 1. The vote is scheduled for Thursday in the Municipal Council, where legislation is usually not considered without sufficient support for the transition.
But lawmakers rejected other changes that business interests wanted, such as the release of common “help is needed” signs and companies with less than 15 employees.
Leaving aside the details, the transparency of salaries is only this far, said Sian Bilock, president of Barnard College Women’s College.
“Moving towards gender equality in the workplace is a really important goal, but it is important to take into account promotions, managerial responsibilities and other aspects,” she said. “I’m worried that focusing on the salary misses a bigger point.”
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Associated Press video journalist Joseph B. Frederick contributed.
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