Employment Litigation

Carol Goodman, co-chair of Herrick's Litigation Department and chair of the firm's Employment Practice, was a featured guest on BBC Business Matters hosted by Ed Butler. In this episode, Carol spoke with Ed about the New York City Pay Transparency Law that went into effect on November 1, 2022. This law requires employers with four or more employees on their payroll in New York City to post a salary range for a particular role when it is advertised. 

When asked what the intent is behind this law, Carol explained, “This salary transparency law is believed to be a way to diminish unfair gender and racial pay disparities.” She added, “The idea is that job applicants will no longer be negotiating or accepting salaries in a vacuum or accepting salary ranges that are lower than the company is willing to pay.”

When asked how employers are reacting to the new law, Carol noted, “For large companies, this can be quite burdensome. If they want to post a good faith salary range, then they really need to look at the salaries they are currently paying.”

Carol highlighted, “If a company is advertising a pay scale for a particular position, this might cause unrest among the ranks of current employees.” She added, “Existing employees are watching, and they are going to see a range that might be different than they are getting paid. Unfortunately, they may assume that they are getting paid for a discriminatory reason. When in fact, their pay is based on seniority, tenure or qualifications on a legal basis.”

“Forcing companies to be transparent on salary may lead to them putting compensation in other forms,” Carol said. She added, “You only have to post salary—you do not have to post bonus, benefits or other incentive pay.”

To hear the full interview, please click here. Carol’s interview begins at 33 minutes and 58 seconds.