What’s The Pay? New Jersey Bill Pushes for Employers to Be Up Front About Compensation

If you've ever been on the hunt for a job, you've more than likely run into this snag.

In your search for a new job, let's say you find a listing for a position that checks all your boxes. It goes into detail about what the job requires, and your skillset is perfectly attuned for it. Check!

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There's only one thing missing. The most important question of all. How much does it pay? Conveniently, the answer to that question is nowhere to be seen on the job posting. How is that fair?

Once you begin to fill out the application you run into the question many employers tend to hide behind: "What's your desired pay range?" Of course, you can't proceed in the application process without answering the question first.

You can never be quite sure how to answer that question, because it forces you to show your cards without the employer revealing theirs. It creates an anxiety because you don't know if they'll reject you for asking for too much, or if they'll hire you because you gave them a number way below what they were actually willing to pay.

It's not fair, and a New Jersey bill is looking to change that.

New Jersey Bill moves toward pay transparency

New Jersey bill A3937 is aiming to hold employers accountable when it comes to pay transparency. If enacted into law, the salary would have be clearly written in the job posting.

Assembly bill A3937 states:

"An employer shall disclose in each posting for each job opening the hourly wage or salary, or a range of the compensation, and a general description of all of the benefits and other compensation to be offered to the hired applicant."

If enacted, employers who violate the law will face fines between $1,000 - $10,000 depending on the number of subsequent violations.

Hopefully this bill gets passed to make the job searching process significantly easier.