Washington Salary Range Law

As of January 1, 2023, Washington employers with 15 or more employees must disclose the salary range or salary range and a general description of all benefits and other compensation offered when posting job postings, whether or not such information is requested by the applicant. For employees who are offered an internal transfer to a new position or promotion, the employer must provide the salary range or salary range for the new position upon request. „Multi-state employers should consider a national pay transparency policy given the growing number of jurisdictions that require pay transparency,“ said Caroline Burnett, an attorney at Baker McKenzie`s San Francisco office. Want to learn more about how the Syndio platform can help you meet the Washington State salary scale and the Pay Range Disclosure Act? With this requirement, Washington joins Colorado (read more here) and New York City (read more here) in requiring such public disclosures in job postings. While a number of other states (e.g., California, Connecticut, Maryland, and Rhode Island) require disclosure of salary information to applicants at various points in the hiring process, this law is broader in scope as it requires public disclosure. Specifically, the new law will require Washington employers with 15 or more employees to include a salary range or salary range in all job postings, as well as „all benefits and other compensation offered in connection with the position,“ regardless of the candidate`s application. For the purposes of the Act, „posting“ means „any solicitation to recruit candidates for a specific available position, including recruitment made directly by an employer or indirectly through a third party“ and includes „any posting made electronically or in print containing the qualifications of the desired candidates“. Although the Act does not define the „salary range“, „salary range“ or „benefits“, the term „remuneration“ is defined elsewhere in the same chapter of the Act as „discretionary and non-discretionary wages and benefits that an employer grants to an employee by reason of the employment relationship.“ However, as of January 1, 2023, the law requires the employer to proactively disclose the salary range or salary range for each job offer and a general description of all benefits and other compensation to be offered to the candidate „in each position“. `secondment` means any invitation to recruit candidates for a specific available position, including recruitment carried out directly by an employer or indirectly through a third party, and includes any electronic or paper posting containing qualifications for the desired candidates. And as under applicable law, employers must disclose this information for internal transfers. SB 5761 revises an amendment to Washington`s Equal Pay and Opportunity Act of 2019 (EPOA), which was added to include protections for the employment, transfer or promotion of candidates and to extend the scope of EPOA beyond current staff. According to the 2019 amendment, the law required disclosure of salary range and salary range information for applicants only upon request.

As explained above, the new law requires affirmative disclosure of payroll and benefits information in job postings, but leaves unchanged the employer`s obligation to provide employees who are offered new positions or promotions within the company with the same information only upon request. A: The law defines a „job offer“ as any application for employment of a candidate for a particular position. This means that if you post a general „Help Wanted“ sign that is not tied to a specific role, there is no need to include the salary range or salary range. If you use a third-party vendor, such as a recruiter or procurement company, and the role is posted online (such as LinkedIn) or elsewhere on your behalf, it must also include the scope and general description of benefits and other compensation elements. The law applies to any posting made electronically or in printed form, provided that it contains the qualifications required for the desired candidates. She added that employers should establish standard salary ranges for all existing positions. „With that in mind, consider an internal audit with guidance on current employee salaries to ensure there are no significant gaps or inequalities.