The NYC Salary Transparency Law (Local Law 32), which Legal Momentum was centrally involved in passing, officially went into effect today, November 1st. It requires all employers with four or more employees to post a good faith salary range in advertisements for new jobs, transfers or promotion opportunities for any position that can be carried out in New York City.

By mandating pay disclosure in job postings, this new law works to dismantle our prevailing culture of pay secrecy, which for too long has allowed gender and racial pay disparities to persist behind closed doors. With salary ranges out in the open, employers must think critically about how they set pay at the front end of their process before they insert unconscious biases. At the same time, women and people of color have more leverage to advocate for themselves and more information to make better decisions about jobs and industries to pursue, helping to combat occupational segregation.

A true commitment to pay equity and fair labor practices requires openness. Today, New York City, one of the largest business hubs in the world, took a historic step forward in leading a movement towards pay equity that will have ripple effects across the entire country.

A similar bill passed the New York State Senate and Assembly in June 2022 and is currently awaiting Governor Kathy Hochul’s signature to be turned into law. We urge Governor Hochul to sign the bill without amendments so that all New York workers, employers and the state economy can benefit from salary transparency.

For further reading about the law, and its role in closing the gender and racial pay gaps, read our Op-Ed published in the NY Daily News with partner PowHer NY’s Beverly Cooper Neufeld: Pay Equity Begins with Pay Transparency.