Washington is Latest State to Require Wage Information in Job Postings

Washington joined a growing list of jurisdictions requiring employers to include wage and benefits information in their job postings. Meanwhile, New York City, one of these same jurisdictions, has postponed implementation of its comprehensive pay transparency law in response to numerous employer compliance concerns.

Washington amended its Equal Pay and Opportunities Act to require employers to include wage and benefit information in job postings, replacing a previous requirement that employers provide such information only at the request of an applicant after they receive a job offer. Under the amendments, for each job posting, employers are required to disclose:

• The wage scale or salary range, and
• A general description of all benefits and other compensation to be offered.

A “job posting” under the law means any electronic or hard-copy solicitation intended to recruit job applicants for a specific position, including recruitment through a third party. 

New York City has pushed back the effective date of its wage transparency law, originally passed in December 2021, which requires employers to provide salary ranges in any job posting. The law was originally slated to go into effect May 15. However, it received significant resistance from the business community regarding compliance difficulties associated with the short runway, vague language, and excessive penalties in the existing law being amended. In response, the New York City Council has delayed implementation until November 1, 2022, among other amendments. The Council also amended the original law to provide a 30-day period for employers to cure alleged violations and avoid civil penalties. 

Outlook: Pay transparency laws, along with salary history bans, continue to be a hot issue at the state level, with 13 jurisdictions—and counting—having some form of pay transparency requirements and dozens more enacting salary history bans. Thus far, similar efforts at the federal level have failed to move through Congress.