Latest news with #paytransparency
Forbes
2 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
Pay Transparency Arrives In New Jersey: What Employers Need To Know
On June 1, 2025, New Jersey's Pay and Benefit Transparency Act officially took effect, ushering in new requirements for how employers advertise jobs, share salary information, and communicate promotional opportunities. With this law, New Jersey joins a growing list of states advancing pay transparency as a tool to close wage gaps and promote fairness in hiring. For employers with operations or applicants in the Garden State, the new requirements demand immediate attention. The law applies to businesses with 10 or more employees over the course of 20 calendar weeks that either operate in New Jersey or take applications for employment within the state. That includes private companies, public employers, staffing firms, and job placement agencies. At its core, the New Jersey Pay and Benefit Transparency Act (NJPBTA) is about ensuring job seekers and current employees have access to meaningful compensation information. The law introduces two main obligations: job posting transparency and promotional opportunity notice. When advertising a new job or transfer opportunity, whether internally or externally, covered employers must now include: Importantly, the wage range must include both a minimum and maximum figure. Phrases like 'up to $35 per hour' or '$70,000 and up' do not satisfy the law's requirements. The same applies to benefits. Employers may no longer rely on vague terms like 'great benefits' or 'competitive package.' Instead, they must provide a general but substantive overview. These disclosure rules apply across all posting formats, including print advertisements, company newsletters, job boards, emails, and social media. If the employer fails to provide the required information, the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development (NJDOL) may assess a penalty of up to $300 for a first violation and $600 for each subsequent violation. Employers must also make reasonable efforts to inform all current employees in affected departments about promotional opportunities, defined as a change in job title coupled with an increase in compensation, before making a decision. This applies regardless of whether the opportunity is posted internally or externally. However, there are two exceptions. Employers do not need to provide notice for promotions awarded solely based on performance or seniority, or those made on an emergent basis due to unforeseen circumstances. Employers based outside of New Jersey are not off the hook. If a company has employees in New Jersey or accepts applications from New Jersey residents, it must comply with the NJPBTA when advertising positions accessible to those applicants. Even remote-first or nationally recruiting employers should review whether any aspect of their hiring or promotion practices triggers coverage under the law. Temporary help service firms and consulting firms are treated slightly differently. They are not required to disclose wage and benefit information in general job postings used to identify potential applicants for future assignments. However, they must provide that information to candidates at the time of interview or hire for a specific job opening. This carveout is narrow and applies only to speculative postings, not confirmed job assignments. The NJPBTA builds on New Jersey's broader pay equity framework. Since 2018, the Diane B. Allen Equal Pay Act has prohibited pay discrimination based on any protected characteristic under the state's Law Against Discrimination. Employers are also barred from asking about a job applicant's salary history under a separate law that took effect in 2020. Given these overlapping requirements, employers should take immediate steps to bring their job advertising and internal promotion procedures into alignment with the law. That means updating job posting templates, training recruiters and hiring managers, reviewing third-party postings, and creating internal workflows to ensure eligible employees are informed of advancement opportunities. Pay transparency is no longer a best practice in New Jersey. It is now a legal requirement. The NJPBTA also brings with it broader implications. Salary disclosures may raise questions among current employees about internal equity, and employers should be prepared to address those concerns thoughtfully and consistently. While the law allows for pay differences based on experience, education, and job-related skills, it does not excuse disparities rooted in unlawful discrimination. Employers should be proactive in reviewing their compensation practices to ensure compliance with New Jersey's Equal Pay Act and Law Against Discrimination. New Jersey's move reflects a nationwide push toward greater transparency in employment practices. From California to Colorado, and from New York City to Washington State, jurisdictions across the country are codifying salary disclosure and fair opportunity principles. For multi-state employers, this patchwork presents a compliance challenge, but also an opportunity to lead with equity and build trust with candidates and employees alike. The NJPBTA reinforces a simple idea: job seekers deserve to know what they can expect to earn, and employees deserve a fair shot at advancing their careers. With the law now in effect, employers who haven't already taken steps to comply must act quickly to avoid penalties and ensure consistent practices across platforms and departments. As more jurisdictions move in this direction, a proactive approach to pay transparency is no longer optional. It's essential for minimizing legal exposure and maintaining operational readiness in a changing regulatory landscape.
CBC
3 days ago
- Business
- CBC
B.C. government says provincial gender pay gap seeing 'modest improvement'
Social Sharing B.C.'s second annual pay transparency report shows a two per cent improvement in pay equality between women and men in the province, which a Canadian organization championing gender equality says is far from enough. The report reveals a two-cent decrease in pay inequality, with women earning 85 cents for every dollar a man earned in 2024, up from 83 cents in 2023. Sectors that saw the largest improvements in closing the gender pay gap, according to Statistics Canada data, were agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting, where pay inequality has dropped from 45 percent to 36 per cent since 2023 — a nine per cent decrease. Mining, quarrying and oil-and-gas extraction saw a seven per cent decrease in pay inequality from 24 per cent to 17 per cent, and young women with trade certificates or diplomas saw a 13 per cent drop in the gender pay gap from 18 per cent to 11 per cent in B.C. from 2017 to 2024. WATCH | B.C. government introduces new pay transparency law: The report says 85 per cent of job postings in B.C. in 2024 included information about pay, whereas other parts of the country came in at 52 per cent, according to the job-search platform Indeed. According to the report, B.C. has the fourth-highest gender pay gap among Canadian provinces. When intersectional identities are considered, such as being Indigenous or a female newcomer to Canada, pay inequality is higher. Humera Jabir, a staff lawyer with the West Coast branch of the Women's Legal and Education Action Fund (LEAF), says a two-cent improvement in closing the gender pay gap in this year's annual report is negligible. "The Pay Transparency Act has no teeth and it has no ability to enforce the changes that we need to see to close the gender pay gap in B.C." Jabir says to close the gap, B.C. needs a living wage for all people, policies that support and value caregivers, higher assistance for those on disability assistance, and fairness and protection for migrants. "We need the B.C. government to recognize that this is a systematic issue of pay discrimination that is deeply built into our economy and reflects the social and economic devaluation of work that's done by women and people who experience marginalization." Jabir says a lot of women and marginalized people work in spaces with fewer than 50 employees, so they will not be reflected in pay transparency data under the act in B.C. The pay transparency act tool that the government is relying on is not capturing everyone, especially those most impacted by the gender pay gap, says Jabir. "Unfortunately, what the reports are showing over and over again is that there is gender, systemic inequality in how people are paid. We've known that for decades, so what is the B.C. aovernment doing to do about it?" Karsari Govender, B.C.'s human rights commissioner, says that while the numbers in the report show slight improvements, it is worth noting that the data is limited to a select group who work for larger employers with 1,000 or more employees. Gender pay gap data will be expected from B.C. employers with 300 or more employees beginning this November, and employers with 50 or more employees will be expected to compile and post reports about their gender pay gap data starting in November 2026. Govender says only 86 per cent of employers complied with the pay transparency legislation, so the numbers from the report don't paint an entirely accurate picture. "Pay transparency legislation is an important step towards pay equity, but the problem is it can't be the only step. The biggest issue is that we don't have pay equity legislation." Govender notes that while gender pay gap reporting is mandatory in B.C., there are no mechanisms to enforce it to hold employers accountable. She says an enforcement mechanism, such as fines or other penalties for non-compliance, is needed for the legislation to work more effectively. The intersectional data collected in the report is important, says Govender. Women overall made 85 cents on the dollar compared to men, while women with disabilities made 82 cents, and transgender women made 52 cents.
Wall Street Journal
14-05-2025
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
What if Your Salary Is Too High for Today's Job Market?
All of us like to think we are worth every penny of our paychecks—and then some. Many Americans who scored big raises a few years ago are coming to the harsh realization that they are overpaid in today's cooler job market. It's not that they are failing to live up to the deals they signed. It's that wages have fallen in tech and other industries while the expansion of pay transparency laws makes it hard to ignore this truth.
