New York Pay Transparency Law: The 2026 Employer Guide

New York Pay Transparency Law: The 2026 Employer Guide

If you hire anyone who works in New York — or who could do the job remotely from New York — the state's pay transparency law shapes every posting you publish. Under Labor Law Section 194-b, which took effect September 17, 2023, employers with four or more employees must state a compensation range in every advertised job, promotion, and transfer opportunity. New York City has run its own version since late 2022, so a single New York role can sit under two overlapping rules at once.

This guide walks you through who the law covers, exactly what belongs in a posting, how the state and New York City rules fit together, what your recordkeeping obligations are, and what non-compliance costs. If you run compensation or talent for a company that touches New York, treat this as your working checklist.

TL;DR: New York pay transparency at a glance

• Labor Law Section 194-b took effect September 17, 2023 and applies to private employers with four or more employees.
• Every advertised job, promotion, or transfer must include the minimum and maximum pay (annual salary or hourly rate) the employer believes in good faith is accurate at the time of posting.
• You must state whether a role is commission-based and include the job description if one exists.
• Coverage reaches roles performed at least partly in New York and remote roles that report to a New York office or supervisor.
• Civil penalties run up to $1,000 for a first violation, $2,000 for a second, and $3,000 for the third and beyond.
• New York City enforces its own pay transparency law on top of the state rule, through the NYC Commission on Human Rights.

Who the New York pay transparency law covers

You are covered by Section 194-b if you have four or more employees. That count is not limited to New York residents — it includes your whole workforce. Independent contractors are generally not counted toward the four, but the moment you cross the threshold, the posting obligations apply to the roles you advertise into New York.

The reach of the law comes from where the work happens, not where your headquarters sits. According to the state Department of Labor, the requirement applies to any job, promotion, or transfer opportunity that will be performed, at least in part, in New York State. It also applies to a role that will be performed outside New York but reports to a supervisor, office, or worksite in New York. That second clause is the one that catches out-of-state employers off guard: a fully remote position reporting into a Manhattan manager is covered even if the hire never sets foot in the state.

A few points worth flagging:

• Nonprofits and labor organizations are covered, not just for-profit businesses.
• Temporary help firms are exempt from the posting requirement for the roles they staff, because those positions are already covered by New York's separate wage-notice rules for temp workers.
• Third-party recruiters and job boards generally do not create liability for you unless they are advertising on your behalf and you control the ad's content.

If you are hiring across several states at once, New York rarely stands alone. Layer these rules on top of the patchwork we map in our 2026 multi-state pay transparency compliance guide so one national posting can satisfy the strictest jurisdiction it touches.

What every job posting must include

For any advertised job, promotion, or transfer opportunity, the posting must contain three things:

1. The compensation or a range of compensation — expressed as the minimum and maximum annual salary, or the minimum and maximum hourly rate, that you believe in good faith is accurate at the time of posting.
1. A clear statement if the role is commission-based. For roles paid solely on commission, a general statement that compensation is based on commission satisfies the requirement.
1. The job description, if one exists for the position.

The phrase "in good faith" carries weight. The range you publish is supposed to reflect what you actually expect to pay the person you hire. A floor-to-ceiling range so wide it tells a candidate nothing — the kind that spans an entire pay grade and then some — runs against the purpose of the law and invites scrutiny. Post the range you would genuinely offer within, not the widest band your payroll system will allow. California has already moved to tighten this exact standard, as we cover in our breakdown of California's SB 642 good-faith pay scale rule — expect other states to follow.

Here is a quick way to see the difference:

If your ranges feel like guesses, that is a signal your underlying structure needs work — not that you should widen the band to stay safe. Ranges that flow from a real job-leveling structure hold up far better than numbers pulled to cover every contingency. We break down how to build ranges you can stand behind in our guide to defensible pay ranges.

How the state law and New York City's law fit together

New York City has required pay ranges in job advertisements since November 1, 2022, under a local law enforced by the NYC Commission on Human Rights. It covers employers with four or more employees when at least one works in the city, and it applies to jobs, promotions, and transfer opportunities that can or will be performed, in whole or in part, in New York City.

The two laws rhyme but are not identical, so for a New York City role you effectively comply with both at once:

• Both require a good-faith minimum and maximum pay range in the advertisement.
• State law (194-b) additionally requires you to note commission-based roles and to include the job description where one exists.
• Enforcement differs. State complaints go to the Department of Labor's Division of Labor Standards; New York City complaints can go to the NYC Commission on Human Rights. A single city-based posting can be reported through either channel.

The practical takeaway: if a role touches New York City, build the posting to the stricter combined standard — a bounded range, the commission note, and the job description — and you satisfy both the city and the state in one listing.

Salary history, recordkeeping, and anti-retaliation

Three related obligations sit around the posting rule and are easy to overlook.

Salary history is off the table. Under Labor Law Section 194-a, effective January 6, 2020, you cannot ask about, request, or rely on an applicant's or employee's prior wage or salary history when deciding whether to hire them or what to pay. Build your offers from the role's worth and your own ranges, not from what someone earned at their last job.

You have to keep records. Section 194-b requires you to maintain the history of compensation ranges for each job, promotion, and transfer opportunity, along with the job descriptions where they exist. If the Department of Labor asks how you set a posted range, your records should tell that story.

Retaliation is prohibited. You cannot refuse to interview, hire, promote, or employ — or otherwise punish — an applicant or employee for exercising rights under the law, including asking about the pay range for their own role. Make sure hiring managers understand that a candidate asking "what's the range?" is protected, not a red flag.

Penalties and enforcement

Section 194-b is enforced by the state Commissioner of Labor. Civil penalties are tiered by how many times you have been cited:

• Up to $1,000 for a first violation
• Up to $2,000 for a second violation
• Up to $3,000 for a third and each subsequent violation

Those numbers look modest next to a hiring budget, but they attach per violation and sit alongside the reputational cost of a public complaint. Anyone who believes a covered employer omitted a pay range can file a complaint with the Department of Labor's Division of Labor Standards, reachable at 1-888-52-LABOR. For New York City roles, a complaint can also go to the NYC Commission on Human Rights. You do not want to be the company a candidate reports because a requisition went live without a range.

A practical compliance checklist

Work through these before your next New York posting goes live:

• Confirm you cross the four-employee threshold, counting your entire workforce, not just New York staff.
• Flag every remote requisition that reports into a New York office or supervisor — those are covered even if the work happens elsewhere.
• Put a bounded minimum and maximum on every job, promotion, and transfer posting.
• Tighten ranges so they reflect what you would genuinely pay, not the full width of a pay grade.
• Add the commission statement wherever it applies, and attach the job description when one exists.
• Strip any salary-history question out of applications and screening scripts.
• Store the pay ranges and job descriptions behind each posting so you can show your work.
• Anchor published ranges to a real job-leveling structure so they hold up under both a transparency complaint and a pay-equity review.

Frequently asked questions

When did the New York pay transparency law take effect? Labor Law Section 194-b took effect September 17, 2023. You can read the statute directly at the New York State Senate's site and the state's employer guidance on the Department of Labor's pay transparency page.

Which employers are covered? Private employers with four or more employees, plus nonprofits and labor organizations. The four-employee count includes your whole workforce, not only workers based in New York.

Do remote and out-of-state roles count? Yes. The law covers roles performed at least partly in New York and roles performed elsewhere that report to a New York office, worksite, or supervisor. A fully remote job reporting into a New York manager is covered.

What has to be in a New York job posting? A good-faith minimum and maximum pay range (annual salary or hourly rate), a statement if the role is commission-based, and the job description if one exists. The state's pay transparency FAQ works through the edge cases.

How does New York City's law interact with the state law? New York City has its own pay transparency law, enforced by the NYC Commission on Human Rights, requiring a good-faith range in advertisements for roles performed in the city. For a city role, build the posting to the combined standard and you satisfy both.

Can we ask candidates about their salary history? No. Labor Law Section 194-a, in effect since January 6, 2020, bars employers from seeking or relying on an applicant's or employee's prior pay when setting compensation.

What are the penalties for non-compliance? Civil penalties of up to $1,000 for a first violation, $2,000 for a second, and $3,000 for a third and each subsequent violation, assessed by the Commissioner of Labor.

The bottom line

New York's pay transparency law is no longer new, and the overlap with New York City's rule means a single role can answer to two regulators. The employers who stay out of trouble are the ones whose posted ranges are not guesses — they flow from a clear view of what each job is worth and where it sits in the structure.

That is the work PointFactors is built for: scoring jobs against weighted compensable factors so your levels, bands, and published ranges hold up under a transparency complaint and a pay-equity challenge alike. Book a demo and see how fast you can turn a messy set of jobs into ranges you can defend — in New York, New York City, and every other market on your map.

Justin Hampton is the founder and CEO of PointFactors.