Similarly, If you want to be a photo editor at Discovery Inc., you could be paid anywhere from $67,991 and $126,269. A listing from the Wall Street Journal included a range spanning $140,000 to $450,000. A Barron’s reporter might make $50,000 or $180,000.
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Outside of journalism, other businesses also seem to be playing fast and loose with the new requirement. A front desk worker at a dental practice in Brooklyn might make $45,000, or nearly double that. A scheduler at a surgery center might start at $36,980, or 66% more than that. A personal shopper at Bloomingdales could make between $48,672 and $84,864. You get the idea.
For all of these jobs, there is a chance those advertised ranges truly reflects the breadth of pay for current employees in those positions. And if that’s the case, clearly there are issues of parity at play. But that’s a rather generous interpretation of corporate shenanigans.
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Then, there are some listings that haven’t attempted to comply with the law at all. Like this one from Paramount that show no salary range, even though it was posted in the last 24 hours.
The whole point of pay transparency is for job applicants to be able to make informed decisions about where to focus their attention and for corporations to be accountable to public opinion and their employees. Plus salary transparency has the potential to bring wider positive change, like reductions in the gender and race pay gaps. The new law is inarguably a good thing for workers and job seekers. But if companies fail to take it seriously, we all lose out—businesses included.
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If you come across a job listing advertising a suspicious range, you can file a complaint with NYC’s Commission on Human Rights by calling (212) 416-0197 or by visiting NYC.gov/HumanRights. Companies found to be in violation of the newly active law are subject to fines from the city and other penalties.
Update 11/2/2022, 12:13 p.m. ET: This post has been updated with comment from Citigroup.