New York pay transparency law: the job posting and salary range rules
New York is really two laws stacked on top of each other. The statewide rule under Labor Law 194-b covers private employers with four or more employees, which is the lowest threshold in the country outside Colorado. New York City has its own separate rule with its own tests and its own penalties, and they do not line up. A job performed partly in New York City is covered by both at once.
This page covers who is covered, what a compliant posting contains, the two different remote work tests, how the city and state rules interact, and the penalties. Build a defensible range on the right in about a minute.
Last updated July 2026 / General information, not legal advice
- P25
- $0
- P50 · Median
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- P75
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Suggested posted range
Sample benchmarks derived from public wage data (U.S. BLS OES, May 2024). Early-access customers get live, methodology-documented benchmarks.
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New York State vs New York City, in one table
| Question | New York State (Labor Law 194-b) | New York City (Admin Code 8-107(32)) |
|---|---|---|
| Who is covered | Private employers with 4 or more employees; employment agencies and recruiters at any size. | Employers with 4 or more employees, or 1 or more domestic workers, where at least one employee works in NYC. |
| Range required | Yes. Base pay only, good faith, closed ended. | Yes. Base annual salary or hourly rate only, good faith, closed ended. |
| Job description required | Yes, if one exists. | No. |
| Benefits required | No, and they must be kept out of the range. | No, and they are excluded from "salary." |
| Remote test | Work performed at least partly in NY, or performed outside NY but reporting to a NY supervisor, office or work site. | Only where the work can or will be performed, at least in part, in NYC. No reports-to test. |
| Cure period | None. | First complaint: 30 days to cure for a $0 penalty. |
| Penalties | Up to $1,000 / $2,000 / $3,000 for first, second, third and subsequent violations. | Up to $250,000 for an uncured first violation or any later one. |
Sources: New York Labor Law section 194-b (effective September 17, 2023) and section 218 (penalties); NYC Local Law 32 and Local Law 59 of 2022, adding NYC Administrative Code section 8-107(32), effective November 1, 2022; NYS DOL employer fact sheet P687; NYC Commission on Human Rights salary transparency fact sheet. Summarized for planning, not as legal advice.
What a compliant New York posting contains
Two items statewide, and the second one catches people out because no other state asks for it.
01
The compensation range
A minimum and a maximum, in good faith at the time of posting. It must be base pay only: annual salary, hourly wage or piece rate. A fixed rate is fine where there is genuinely no flexibility. Commission-only roles must say clearly that the pay is commission based.
02
The job description
Required statewide if a description exists. State guidance suggests a description may be unnecessary only where the title itself conveys the full duties, using "dishwasher" as the example. In practice, if you wrote a description, it goes in the ad.
Keep out
Benefits do not belong in the range
Insurance, PTO, retirement, severance, overtime, commissions, tips, bonuses, stock, meals and lodging all stay out of the range figure. You may list them separately, and the Department of Labor encourages it, but they must not inflate the number.
One range per opportunity, per location
Ranges cannot be open ended. "$20 per hour and up" and "maximum $50,000" both fail. The range has to be tied to a single opportunity in a single geographic location, which means an ad covering three cities or three seniority levels needs a separate range for each rather than one very wide band spanning all of them.
That constraint is the one most likely to break a multi-state remote posting. A range wide enough to cover a junior hire in Buffalo and a senior hire in Manhattan is not a good faith range for either of them.
What counts as an advertisement
Statewide, the law reaches any posting for a job, promotion or transfer opportunity shared with more than one person. That includes internal channels: bulletin boards, mailing lists, an email to a pool of applicants. Internal and external ads are treated the same.
Postings a recruiter or job board published with your consent are your responsibility. Listings that aggregators scraped and republished without your consent are not. Neither the state nor the city requires you to post a job at all, and neither imposes an Illinois-style deadline to tell existing employees about an opening.
Two different remote tests, and they catch different people
This is the part of New York that is genuinely unusual. The state and the city ask different questions, so the same remote role can be inside one law and outside the other.
State test
Where it is done, or who it reports to
Covered if the job will physically be performed at least in part in New York, or if it is performed outside New York but reports to a supervisor, office or work site in New York. Remote and work from home are expressly included.
City test
Only where it is done
Covered where the role can or will be performed, at least in part, in New York City, from an office, in the field, or remotely from home. There is no reports-to-a-NYC-supervisor trigger.
The carve-out
Incidental presence does not count
Statewide, incidental or infrequent physical presence in New York, like an occasional meeting or conference, does not by itself make the work performed "in part" in New York. Nor does merely communicating with New York based colleagues.
Worked example
A fully remote engineer living in Austin who reports to a manager in your Manhattan office is covered by the state law, because the reports-to test catches them. They are not covered by the city rule, because no part of the work happens in New York City.
A hybrid role two days a week in your Brooklyn office is covered by both.
The state law expressly does not preempt local law, so where both apply they apply cumulatively. The compliant posting is simply the union of the two: a closed-ended base pay minimum and maximum, for one opportunity in one location, plus the job description that the state requires and the city does not.
In practice most employers stop trying to run two templates and just publish the union everywhere in New York. The state requirement is a superset of the city's on content, and the cost of adding a job description you already wrote is zero.
Two regulators, very different numbers
New York State
Enforced by the Commissioner of Labor through the Division of Labor Standards. Civil penalties under Labor Law 218 run up to $1,000 for a first violation, $2,000 for a second and $3,000 for a third or subsequent one.
There is no cure period, and the Commissioner can open an investigation from a tip. An aggrieved person files a complaint with the Commissioner. The statute does not create an express private right of action for posting violations.
New York City
Enforced by the NYC Commission on Human Rights. A first complaint carries no civil penalty if you prove within 30 days of service that you cured the violation, but submitting that proof is deemed an admission of liability. An uncured first violation, or any subsequent violation, reaches $250,000.
The city also allows non-monetary relief: damages to affected employees, amending the ads, policy changes, training and notices. Its private action is narrow. Only a current employee may sue, and only their own employer. Applicants cannot.
Worth being clear about a detail the internet gets wrong. Several widely-shared articles claim a 2026 amendment tightened the good faith range standard and banned placeholder ranges in New York. No such amendment exists in the statute. The overly-broad-range concept appears in the Department of Labor's proposed regulations, which as of July 2026 remain proposed rather than adopted. A separate Benefit Transparency Act that would add benefits and equity to postings passed the Senate in June 2026 but is still sitting in an Assembly committee and is not law. Plan against the statute, and treat the proposed regulations as a strong signal of where enforcement is heading rather than as binding rules.
How to build a New York range you can defend
Step 01
Anchor to market data
Start from wage percentiles for the occupation and metro, and record the source and date. Good faith is a documentation standard, not a feeling.
Step 02
Strip out everything but base
Bonus, commission, equity and benefits come out of the range. If your comp story depends on them, say so in a separate line, not by inflating the number.
Step 03
One range per location and level
Split the posting rather than widening the range. Three cities means three ranges, and three levels means three ranges.
Step 04
Add the description, check your agencies
Statewide you need the job description in the ad, and a posting your recruiter published with your consent is yours to answer for.
The band is the work; the posting is the easy part. The salary bands guide covers the structure, and job posting salary ranges covers turning a band into a publishable number. Because New York demands one range per location, geographic pay differentials is effectively a compliance topic here, not just a comp philosophy one.
New York pay transparency questions
Does New York require salary ranges in job postings?
Yes. Private employers with four or more employees must include a good faith minimum and maximum in every ad for a job, promotion or transfer opportunity, plus the job description if one exists. The range is base pay only and cannot be open ended.
How many employees do you need for New York pay transparency to apply?
Four or more for the statewide law. The New York City rule uses four or more employees or one domestic worker, and counts owners toward the four, as long as at least one employee works in the city. Employment agencies and recruiters are covered at any size.
Do you have to include benefits in a New York job posting?
No, and you must keep them out of the range. Insurance, PTO, retirement, overtime, commissions, tips, bonuses and stock are all excluded from the stated figure. You can list them separately and the state encourages it. This is the opposite of Colorado and Illinois, which require a benefits description.
Does the New York pay transparency law apply to remote jobs?
Yes, under two tests. Statewide, a job is covered if it will be performed at least partly in New York, or if it is performed elsewhere but reports to a New York supervisor, office or work site. Occasional presence for a meeting or conference does not by itself count.
Does the New York State law cover New York City?
Yes, and the city rule applies on top. The state law expressly does not preempt local law, so a role performed partly in the city answers to both. Post a closed-ended base pay range for one opportunity in one location and include the job description, and you satisfy the content requirements of both.
What is the penalty for not posting a salary range in New York?
Statewide, up to $1,000, $2,000 and $3,000 for a first, second and third or subsequent violation, with no cure period. In New York City, a first complaint carries no penalty if cured within 30 days of service, but proving the cure is deemed an admission of liability, and uncured or later violations reach $250,000.
Keep going
Pay transparency software
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Illinois pay transparency law
The same two-prong remote test, plus a benefits requirement and a 14-day promotion notice.
California pay transparency law
The 15-employee threshold, the good faith estimate standard, and pay data reporting.
Colorado pay transparency law
One-employee coverage, five posting disclosures, and the post-selection notice.
Pay transparency laws by state
Every US state disclosure rule in one comparison table.
Pricing
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