New York State’s pay transparency law has come into effect, requiring employers to disclose proposed pay rates. As of Sunday, September 17th, employers with at least four workers must disclose the minimum and maximum annual salary or hourly range of compensation in any advertisement for job, promotion, and transfer opportunities.

The law covers advertised opportunities “physically performed, at least in part, in the State of New York,” including “any opportunities that are performed outside the state, including remote or telecommuting opportunities, that report to a supervisor, office or other work site in New York State.”

“If an employee’s physical presence in New York State is only for occasional work-related purposes, such as a meeting, a conference, or communicating with employees based in New York State, that would not be enough activity to be considered a job performed in New York State,” New York State Department of Labor (NYSDOL) adds.

Employers must also clearly state if a position is commission-based and prohibits employers from retaliating against employees who discuss their compensation with coworkers.

In addition to covering newspaper adverts and website postings, the law also applies to posting mediums such as printed flyers, social media posts, electronic mailing lists, and “emails sent to a pool of more than one applicant.” The law also applies to postings whether posted directly by the employer, or on the employer’s behalf by a third-party job-listing website such as Archinect Jobs.

Employees or applicants who believe they have experienced a violation of the new law can file a complaint with the NYSDOL. Resources for both employers and employees seeking more information on the new law are available via the NYSDOL website here.

The new legislation closely resembles a similar salary transparency law that recently came into force in New York City. New York is also one of several states to introduce or upgrade salary transparency laws. In 2022, California lawmakers updated and passed their own salary transparency law, which was signed into law by Governor Newsom later that month. Measures designed to improve salary transparency already exist on a state-wide level in Colorado, Nevada, Connecticut, Washington, and Maryland. 

You can help us in our continued effort to provide salary insights into architectural practice across the U.S. and abroad by anonymously responding to the Architecture Salary Poll here.