A new law passed by the New York City Council—which was supposed to go into effect in April 2022—required employers in New York City to include the minimum and maximum starting salary for any "advertised job, promotion or transfer opportunity."

This piece of legislation was heralded as a complete game-changer for both people searching for a new job and current employees. It would pull back the curtain on salaries, which have often been cloaked in secrecy.

Without full disclosure, searching for a job is an unfair one-sided way of doing business, with the company having the upper hand. For example, an applicant would be forced to interview with three to six plus people for many months. After the culmination of the arduous and emotionally draining interview process, an offer could be made that is far below the expectations of the eager candidate.

Now, this new employee-empowering policy may not see the light of day. Right before the law was slated to go into effect, City Council members are attempting to either postpone it or enact alterations that could potentially “gut” the intent of the law, which was designed, in large part, to promote equal pay.

Unintended consequences were one of the reasons cited for a public hearing on the matter. The Democratic politicians pushing for the change said the law “would exclude businesses with fewer than 15 employees, allow for hiring notices that don’t specify a position to exclude salary info and exempt remote positions that can be done outside New York City.” Implementation would be delayed to November 1, if changed.

Some of the other reasons raised included that it was too rushed and concerns over disclosing salaries or wages would cause businesses to outbid each other to win workers. This would cause salary inflation, they claimed.

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