Do job postings need a salary range in New York? (2026)

Who it applies to

Any person, corporation, or other entity employing four or more employees in any occupation, industry, trade, business, or service. New York City sits inside this and adds its own stricter rule, so an employer advertising a role in the five boroughs has to satisfy both. That page is here: New York City salary transparency. (NY Labor Law § 194-b)

What has to be in the posting

Two items. First, the compensation or a range of compensation: the minimum and maximum annual salary, piece rate, or hourly rate the employer believes in good faith to be accurate when the advertisement is posted. Second, the job description for the opportunity, if such a description exists. NYSDOL allows a narrow exception on the second item where the title itself clearly conveys the full extent of the duties, giving a dishwasher who will only be washing dishes as its example, but the default expectation is that the description is there. (NY Labor Law § 194-b; NYSDOL Pay Transparency FAQ)

NYSDOL's guidance on the range itself is more detailed than most states'. A single fixed rate, such as $50,000 per year or $20 an hour, is acceptable. An open-ended range such as "$17 an hour and up" is not. A range so broad that an applicant cannot tell what the employer is actually willing to pay is not in good faith, and a range with significant breadth needs further information explaining why it is so broad. A posting that covers several locations or seniority levels needs a separate range for each rather than one wide band. And the range is base pay only: benefits, commissions, tips, and bonuses may be listed separately but not folded into it. (NYSDOL Pay Transparency FAQ)

Do remote jobs count

Yes, and New York reaches them by two separate routes. The statute covers a role that will physically be performed at least in part in New York. It then separately covers a role that will be performed entirely outside New York if the person reports to a supervisor, office, or other work site in New York. That second clause is why a fully remote hire in another state can still pull a posting into scope: the question is where the reporting line lands, not where the person sits.

NYSDOL draws the boundaries with worked examples. Infrequent or single instances of physical presence, such as attending one annual conference, do not by themselves trigger the requirement. A remote role whose direct supervisor happens to work from home in New York is not covered where the company's leadership and primary location are outside New York and the role can be performed anywhere. But a hybrid role that reports regularly to a New York office is covered even when the direct supervisor sits in another state. (NYSDOL Pay Transparency FAQ)

What happens if a posting is missing the range

Any current, prospective, or potential employee or applicant may file a complaint with the Department of Labor, as can an organization acting on their behalf, such as a union, and the Department may also open its own investigation based on tips. An employer found in violation is subject to a civil penalty under Labor Law § 218. For this kind of non-wage violation, the ceilings are $1,000 for a first violation, $2,000 for a second, and $3,000 for a third or subsequent one. In setting the amount the Commissioner must weigh the size of the business, whether the employer had a good-faith basis for believing it was compliant, the gravity of the matter, and the history of previous violations. (NY Labor Law § 218)

Those ceilings are low next to New York City's, which reach $250,000. For most employers advertising into the city, the city rule is the one that sets the exposure.

How this shows up across job boards

New York puts the responsibility on the employer for any advertisement it agreed to have posted, whether it posts directly or uses a recruiter, a job listing site, or a job board. It does not hold an employer responsible for postings scraped or aggregated by a third party without its knowledge or consent. (NYSDOL Pay Transparency FAQ)

The two-item requirement is what tends to break in syndication. A range that is present on your careers page can survive the hop to a job board while the job description is truncated to a summary, or the reverse. New York asks for both in the advertisement, so a posting can satisfy the part everyone thinks about and still fall short on the part almost nobody checks. The reporting-line clause compounds it: a role advertised as fully remote, with no New York location anywhere in the text, can still be in scope because of who the hire reports to, which is a fact that lives in your org chart rather than in the posting.

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See pay transparency rules in other states