New York City employers are now required to post salary ranges on job listings

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This April 22, 2014, file photo shows an employment application form on a table during a job fair at Columbia-Greene Community College in Hudson, N.Y. / AP

New York City employers are now required to include salary ranges in job postings in a law that went into effect on Tuesday.

Written advertisements for a job, promotion or transfer opportunity that are "publicized to a pool of potential applicants" are covered, including internal bulletin boards, internet and newspaper ads and printed flyers that are handed out at job fairs, according to the legislation.

Employers are required to post the minimum and maximum amounts they are willing to pay "the employer honestly believes at the time they are listing the job advertisement that they are willing to pay the successful applicant(s)," the memo says.

They cannot use vague language such as "$15 per hour and up" or "maximum $50,000 per year," it says. If the employer is not willing to negotiate within a range, it can simply state the amount the job pays.

Any employer with more than four employees must follow the guidelines of the New York City Human Rights Commission. The four employees include the owner of the company, and all four do not have to work in New York; as long as one is based in the city, the company is subject to the measure.

All employment agencies, regardless of their size, must include salaries in their postings. Temporary help firms are exempt, though the companies they match potential employees with must follow the law.

While New York City employers are now required to include salaries in written listings, they are not required to post a listing to make a hire.

They are also not required to provide extra information, such as the overtime pay rate or employee benefits.

Employers who violate the salary transparency requirements will have 30 days to correct their actions, through paying damages to affected employees, administering training and changing the listings. If it does not comply, an employer could be charged up to $250,000 in civil penalties.

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