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Nori Lu

Nori Lu focuses her practice on counseling clients on employment law compliance and risk mitigation. She advises companies on a broad range of employment-related matters, including personnel policies, employment contracts, workplace investigations, hiring, discipline, termination, and wage and hour compliance. She conducts employment-related diligence and advises on aspects of transactions involving the transfer and retention of personnel. She also has experience litigating claims related to employee restrictive covenants, trade secret misappropriation, wage and hour, discrimination, and retaliation.

Nori was previously a member of the firm’s corporate practice and has experience advising private and public companies in connection with venture capital financings, mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance matters, and commercial transactions.

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As we discussed in a previous post, effective January 1, 2023, California employers must include pay scales in job postings, and a similar bill in New York was awaiting signature by Governor Kathy Hochul. The California Labor Commissioner has now issued guidance to assist employers in complying with the new law, and the New York State bill was signed into law on December 21, 2022 and is set to take effect on September 17, 2023.

California

The California Labor Commissioner recently published FAQs (adding to existing FAQs under the state’s equal pay law) with insights for employers on some gray areas in the new law:

Threshold for coverage.The FAQs clarify that an employer is covered by the pay transparency requirements if it reaches the threshold of 15 employees at any point in a pay period they compensate their workers at the minimum higher wage rate for the duration of the entire pay period and going forward as long as they have a minimum of 15 employees. Also, all employees, regardless of the number of hours worked or geographical location, will be included in the count, so long as there is at least one employee located in California.

Job postings for remote positions.The Labor Commissioner interprets the new law to mean that the pay scale must be included on a posting if the position may ever be filled in California, whether in-person or remote.

Information to include in job postings.The FAQs confirm that “pay scale” means the salary or hourly wage range that the employer reasonably expects to pay for a position, and can include just a set hourly or piece rate, rather than a range, if that is what the employer intends to pay. If the position’s hourly or salary wage rate will be based on a piece rate or commissions, the piece rate or commission range must be included in the job posting; however, the posting does not need to include bonuses, tips, or other compensation or tangible benefits provided in addition to a salary or hourly wage. Finally, the Labor Commissioner states that the pay scale must be expressly stated in the posting, and it will not be sufficient to comply with the new law to take shortcuts such as linking the salary range in an electronic posting or including a QR code in a paper posting that will then take the applicant to the salary information.Continue Reading Update on California and New York Pay Transparency Laws