The New York City salary transparency law requires most employers to include a good faith pay range, with both a minimum and a maximum, in every advertisement for a job, promotion, or transfer that would be performed at least partly in the city. The rule took effect November 1, 2022, and lives in the NYC Human Rights Law at Administrative Code § 8-107(32). Employers who ignore it face civil penalties of up to $250,000 for willful violations, though a first-time violator can avoid any penalty by fixing the posting within 30 days of a complaint.
Who Has to Follow the Law
The requirement reaches employers, employment agencies, and their agents that advertise work performed at least in part within New York City. The NYC Human Rights Law generally covers employers with four or more workers, and that same threshold applies here. At least one of those workers must perform duties inside city limits.
Employment agencies are covered regardless of their own headcount. Any listing an agency posts or helps fill needs a pay range, even when the agency is posting on behalf of a client employer.
There is one carve-out worth knowing. Temporary help firms recruiting workers for their general applicant pool do not have to include a salary range in those pool-building ads. The businesses that actually use those temporary workers, however, still have to comply when advertising their own positions.
What Every Job Posting Must Include
Each covered advertisement has to state the minimum and maximum annual salary or hourly wage the employer genuinely believes it would pay for the role. The range runs from the lowest to the highest amount the employer would offer in good faith at the time of posting.
A listing that reads “$65,000 to $85,000” satisfies the law. “Starting at $20 per hour” or “up to $100,000” does not, because those are open-ended rather than bounded. If the employer has no flexibility on pay, the minimum and maximum can be the same figure. A posting of “$75,000 to $75,000” is technically compliant, though it signals a fixed rate. Both endpoints must appear.
What “Salary” Actually Covers
The law focuses strictly on base pay. Employers do not have to disclose other forms of compensation in the required range. The NYC Commission on Human Rights has said the following sit outside the mandatory disclosure:
- Health, life, and other employer-provided insurance
- Paid or unpaid leave, vacation, and sabbaticals
- 401(k) contributions and pension plans
- Commissions, tips, bonuses, overtime, and stock
- Severance, employer-provided meals, and lodging
Employers can voluntarily add benefits information; the law simply does not require it. That gap matters most for commission-heavy roles, where the base range alone can understate total earnings.
Which Positions Are Covered
The disclosure requirement applies to any advertisement for a job, promotion, or transfer opportunity that would be performed at least partly in New York City. “Advertisement” is read broadly and includes internet postings, internal bulletin board notices, printed flyers at job fairs, and newspaper listings.
Internal postings get no exemption. When a company advertises a promotion or a lateral transfer to its existing workforce, that posting needs a pay range just like an external listing. Current employees get the same visibility as outside candidates.
Remote roles are covered if the work could be performed even partially within the city. An out-of-state employer posting a remote-friendly role that a New York City resident could fill from home falls under the law. What matters is where the work happens, not where the company is based.
Two categories are explicitly excluded: general-pool ads from temporary help firms, and positions that cannot and will not be performed in New York City at all.
New York State Adds a Second Layer
City employers also have to comply with New York State Labor Law § 194-B, which took effect September 17, 2023. The state law reaches all New York employers with four or more employees and covers any job performed at least partly within the state. Because the city sits inside the state, NYC employers have to satisfy both.
The biggest practical gap is the job description. The state law requires employers to include a job description alongside the compensation range if one exists. The city law does not. Postings for NYC-based positions should carry both a pay range and a job description to line up with both rules.
The state law also requires employers to state clearly when a position is commission-based. Under the city law alone, commissions sit outside the required salary disclosure, which can leave applicants guessing about the pay structure. The state requirement closes that gap for city positions.
Complaints about NYC-based postings can be filed with either the New York State Department of Labor or the NYC Commission on Human Rights.
Penalties and the First-Violation Cure
The NYC Commission on Human Rights enforces the posting requirement. Under § 8-126 of the Administrative Code, the commission can impose civil penalties of up to $125,000 for a standard violation. When a violation is found to be willful, wanton, or malicious, the ceiling rises to $250,000.
First-time violators get a real break. An employer facing its first complaint can avoid any civil penalty by showing the commission that it corrected the non-compliant posting within 30 days of receiving the complaint. Accepting that cure is treated as an admission of liability, so employers cannot fix the posting and then deny they ever violated the law. Proof of correction can be submitted electronically or in person. If the commission finds the proof insufficient, the employer has 15 days to request a review of that decision.
What Applicants and Employees Can Do
Anyone who spots a job posting missing the required salary range can report it to the NYC Commission on Human Rights. The commission takes complaints through its online inquiry form, which asks for details about the employer and a link to the non-compliant ad. Reports can also come in by calling 311 or dialing the commission directly at (212) 416-0197.
Private lawsuits are more limited. Job applicants generally cannot sue an employer in court over a missing pay range. Only current employees can bring a private action under § 8-502, and only when their own employer advertised a job, promotion, or transfer opportunity without the required salary information. Outside job seekers are limited to the administrative complaint route.
Under the state law, enforcement follows a similar administrative model. Aggrieved individuals file complaints with the state labor commissioner rather than going straight to court.
Retaliation Is Prohibited
Both the city and state laws protect workers who exercise their pay transparency rights. An employer cannot refuse to interview, hire, or promote someone because that person asked about salary ranges, raised pay equity concerns, or filed a complaint about a non-compliant posting. The state law explicitly bars retaliation against applicants and current employees for exercising any rights under § 194-B.
Retaliation reaches beyond firing. Being passed over for a promotion, reassigned to less desirable work, or denied a transfer after raising pay concerns can all qualify. Timing between the protected activity and the adverse action often does much of the work in these cases.