Sorry, 50 Cent, not that club.
On Monday, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed legislation (Senate Bill 2310) requiring certain businesses to disclose wage or salary information and description of benefits in job postings.
Here are five things employers need to know about this new law:
- It covers private businesses with ten or more employees over 20 calendar weeks that do business, employ persons, or take applications for employment in NJ. That law will also cover public sector employers, job placement and referral agencies, and other employment agencies.
- All covered employers must make “reasonable efforts to announce, post, or otherwise make known opportunities for promotion that are advertised internally within the employer or externally on internet-based advertisements, postings, printed flyers, or other similar advertisements to all current employees in the affected department or departments of the employer’s business prior to making a promotion decision.” (These notification requirements do not apply to any promotion for a current employee that is awarded based on years of experience or performance.)
- When an employer posts for a new job or transfer opportunity, whether externally or internally, it must include the hourly wage or salary, or a range of the hourly wage or salary, and a general description of benefits and other compensation programs for which the employee would be eligible. (If the employer later wants to pay more than advertised, that’s fine.)
- Temp agencies posting for potential future job openings (as opposed to existing ones) do not need to comply with the salary transparency rules.
- A first violation will cost $300, and others will cost $600. There appears to be no private cause of action.
The new law will take effect in June 2025.