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The Garden State Law Podcast discusses all things legal in the state of New Jersey. Presented by lawyers from Saiber LLC, the Garden State Law Podcast highlights trending topics in litigation, transactional law, real estate, and more.
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Welcome back to the Garden State
Law Podcast.
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I'm your host, Tim Law.
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Joining me today is employment
law attorney DanaLynn Colao.
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DanaLynn, thank you for joining us.
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Thank you for having me. I'm
happy to be here.
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So today,
DanaLynn and I will be discussing
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New Jersey's new pay transparency law,
which will impact most employers in 2025.
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But before we do that, DanaLyn,
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maybe you could tell us a little bit
about yourself and your practice.
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Sure.
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I've been practicing law
now for over 25 years, and I
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primarily practice
in the area of employment and labor.
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In addition to litigating cases,
I spend a considerable amount of time
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counseling my clients, helping them
prepare policies and agreements.
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And I also conduct
internal investigations.
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Great.
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So let's start back from the beginning
regarding this pay transparency law.
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In November of 2024, Governor Phil Murphy
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signed into law the new pay
transparency law.
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Tell us a little bit
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about what's in this bill
and how we expect it to impact employers.
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Sure.
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The new Jersey Pay Transparency
law requires employers to modify
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the information that they are,
including in job postings,
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and how they communicate vacancies
to their existing employees.
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The new law requires covered employers
to make sure that they include
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salary ranges and job postings,
as well as information
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regarding benefits
that may be available to the new hire.
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As well as requiring employers
to take some time to post opportunities
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for promotions to their existing employees
in the affected departments.
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And the new law defines promotion
as a change in job
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title
as well as an increase in compensation.
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Okay, so new Jersey is the home
of many employers, but oftentimes
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not necessarily headquartered here,
but have a satellite office in new Jersey.
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Does a satellite office
or a smaller office or a subsidiary.
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Have the same law applied
as it would elsewhere? Yes.
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So corporate employers are defined
under the act as an employer
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with ten or more employees
that either does business in New Jersey,
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has employees in new Jersey,
or solicits applicants
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for positions of employment
from the state of new Jersey.
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Okay, so I guess I already know
the next question,
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but someone working 100% remote,
even if they're the
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only employee in the state,
this applies to them as well?
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Absolutely.
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Again, it applies to employers
that accept applications from individuals
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in new Jersey
and employs individuals in new Jersey.
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And it also just,
you know, for a reference
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applies to referral agencies
and employment agencies.
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Okay.
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So I guess the question on everybody's
mind is
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when is this going to go into effect?
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Because it's 2025.
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We're in April.
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I'm assuming it's going to happen
soon. Yes.
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It's going to take effect on June 1st.
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Okay. So if we have a couple of months,
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we're two months out.
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What are some of the recommendations
you would make for employers
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to prepare and get ready for this law?
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And that's goes in effect in June? Sure.
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There's a couple of things
I would recommend.
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First, I would recommend reviewing
and revising revising
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their current practices
for posting for positions
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as well as promotional opportunities
at their company.
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I'd also recommend that employers
take the time to make sure
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that they actually have a practice
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for notifying employees
about promotional opportunities.
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It's been my experience that that is
not something that every employer has.
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I'd also recommend establishing pay ranges
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for positions,
making sure that there's agreement
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across the board as to how employees
within your organization
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should be compensated
for similarly situated positions,
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as well as drafting
a narrative of your benefit plans.
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So that that information
is readily available
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to automatically be
put into those job postings come June 1st.
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In addition, it would also
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be a good idea to do a pay equity audit.
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Just to ensure that you are already
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compensating your employees
in an equitable manner.
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In compliance
with both state and federal law.
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And then lastly, I would recommend
that you provide some training
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to your supervisors
on the requirements of the new law.
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So any supervisor
that's involved in the hiring process
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should be educated
about these new requirements. Great.
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So New Jersey...
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are we one of the first to do this?
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I know we often take our cue from our
neighbors across the Hudson in New York.
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Are many states doing this
or are we one of the first of its kind?
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Now, there are several other states that
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already have these laws on on the books
that say approximately 13.
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Illinois and Massachusetts, Vermont
are just a few.
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But we we're certainly not the first.
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Okay.
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And how about exemptions?
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Any employer is exempt to this.
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Or is this pretty uniform
across the board?
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It's pretty uniform.
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You know,
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like I said earlier, it applies to anyone
that has at least ten or more employees.
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And the only exceptions, really,
that are set forth right now
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in the new law is when there's
an emergent situation and a company
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or an organization needs to make
a promotional operating decision.
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They may do so
as long as there's an emergent situation
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that's arisen
that prevents them from complying.
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In addition, there is some language
in the new law that enables
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temporary help
service firms and consulting firms to,
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avoid putting in any details like this
in any job postings where they're
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just looking for prospective candidates
to fill prospective positions.
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However, when they are, posting
for positions that they're specifically
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looking to fill for an end user
and they do need to comply with the law.
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Okay, so speaking of compliance,
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what happens
if an employer fails to comply?
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So right now there's no private
right of action under the law,
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which means that an individual
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cannot sue a company or an organization
for violating the statute.
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However, there are monetary fines.
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So there's a fine of $300
for the first violation
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and a fine of $600
for every subsequent violation.
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Yeah.
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So as a wrap up,
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what are some of the main takeaways
that you'd recommend
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if someone's listening to this podcast,
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if there's something
that they're going to take away
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and there's something
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that we're going to remember,
what are the main takeaways for employers?
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Sure.
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I would really recommend having,
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a review of your written
salary guidelines, making sure
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that there are specific position
descriptions for each position,
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as well as narrative descriptions
for your benefit plans.
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And to the extent you haven't already done
so, that pay equity audit,
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making sure that you are currently
compensating your employees
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in an equitable manner
and consistent with the laws.
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You know, one concern that employers
should keep in the back of their mind
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is that with this transparency, comes
the risk of potentially ability.
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So if, in fact,
they are not paying their employees
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in an equitable manner,
this will soon become public knowledge.
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Through the job postings
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and the promotional opportunities
being promoted within the organization.
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And therefore there could be a risk
of liability not just under this new law,
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but also the laws that prohibit
discriminatory practices.
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All right. Well, very interesting.
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Thank you very much,
DanaLynn for joining us.
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If anybody has any questions for DanaLynn,
you can contact her at 973-645-4837
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or dcolao@saiber.com.
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DanaLynn, thank you very much.
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Thank you
everyone for listening and watching.
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Make sure to subscribe to our YouTube
and podcast channel and we'll talk
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to you next time.