After employers complain, NYC to push back law requiring pay transparency

Go to any job website, and you may be looking for one thing: How much you’re going to get paid.

You may have to wait a bit longer to find the salary you’re looking for.

On Thursday, the City Council approved legislation that will delay the implementation of the city’s salary transparency law by six months.

That law, which requires most businesses to post salary ranges with job advertisements, was originally approved by the council late last year. But after members of the business community raised some concerns, the council decided to tweak it.

“I think it’s making the necessary changes to clarify what we intend,” said Councilwoman Nantasha Williams, who sponsored the legislation. “So it’s not watering down, I believe it’s a clarification bill and that’s what we did today.”

“I was the prime co-sponsor of the original bill, there was no way in hell I was going to gut my own bill,” said Councilman Justin Brannan on Thursday. “There’s no way in hell the speaker wanted to gut the bill. It was just about bringing folks to the table.”

On top of the six-month delay in implementation, the council changed the law to give businesses 30 days to fix any violations before being fined. It also added jobs that weren’t salaried and paid an hourly wage instead.

The council overwhelmingly approved the changes — with only 8 members voting no.

“I will vote no on 134 for the same reason I voted no in the last session of the council,” said Councilman Kalman Yeger. “It is fundamentally unconstitutional.”

The legislation comes amid a nationwide trend to try to increase transparency in salaries to address racial and gender pay gaps. A commission on gender equity in 2018 found women in New York City, especially women of color, are paid much less than white men.