How much money can employees in each position at your company earn? Pay transparency laws in certain locations require employers to inform job candidates and even existing employees of salary ranges for positions.
While some states have had laws on the books for several years, other locations have recently followed suit.
Check out this snapshot of the salary transparency laws across the country:
Cities requiring pay ranges
The New York City Council recently passed a law which will take effect May 15, 2022. The law requires employers to post the minimum and maximum salary offered for advertised jobs, promotions and transfers.
Two cities in Ohio, Cincinnati and Toledo, say that if a company has provided an applicant a conditional offer of employment and the applicant makes a reasonable request, then the employer must provide the pay scale for the position.
States requiring pay ranges
In California, an employer that receives a reasonable request must provide a pay scale to a job applicant. The state says a request made after an applicant has gone through the initial interview process is “reasonable.”
A Colorado salary transparency law took effect last year. That requires employers to include pay and benefits info in job postings. In fact, the law covers remote work that employees can perform anywhere.
As of October of 2021, employers in Connecticut must give applicants wage ranges for open positions when info is requested or before an offer is made – whichever is earlier.
Maryland employers must give applicants the wage range for an open position, if requested.
In Nevada, if you have an applicant who’s completed an interview, you should give that person the position’s salary range.
When businesses in Washington offer job applicants a position, they must provide the minimum wage or salary of the position, if requested by the applicant.
Looking ahead: Prepare for changes in Rhode Island on Jan. 1, 2023. Employers will need to provide applicants with the wage range for an available position. This must be done prior to discussing compensation.
Salary threshold rising
CFOs monitoring pay structures with pay transparency laws in mind now have an added pressure: The U.S. Dept. of Labor (DOL) plans to increase the minimum amount exempt employees must earn under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Right now, executive, administrative and professional exempt employees need to make at least $684 per week. That’s $35,568 annually. Some CFOs rely on DOL’s numbers when they set the bottom end of salary ranges for exempt employees.
When DOL moves forward with its regulatory changes, that’ll crumble companies’ existing pay calculations and shift the lower end of pay ranges for some employees.