Starting in 2023, most employers must list salary details in job ads in Washington state
Starting Jan. 1, many Washington state employers will be required to list clearer details about compensation on most job ads due to recently-ratified legislation.
The regulations, outlined in ESSB 5761, revises sections of the 2018 Washington Equal Pay and Opportunities Act by setting stricter guidelines for businesses with 15 or more employees on wage transparency. When the bill takes effect in 2023, it will require employers to indicate a job’s minimum and maximum salary or wage, as well as all benefits and other forms of compensation, on both physical and electronic listings. The legislation defines a “posting” as “any solicitation intended to recruit job applicants for a specific available position, including recruitment done directly by an employer or indirectly through a third party.”
Currently, employers are only required to provide information on pay to candidates initially offered a job, and only if the candidate requests it. Additionally, companies must only provide a position’s minimum wage or salary.
The rules also slightly alter how salary information is communicated to employees who receive an offer for promotion or separate company position. These workers are still guaranteed a pay range, but only if they request it.
The legislation’s prior wording stated that if an employer had no existing pay range for a job then it must provide an employee with a minimum wage or a salary expectation. Additionally, unlike job advertisements one might see on third-party sites or at career fairs, an internal job posting still won’t be required to show a wage scale or salary information.
Businesses should prepare to tweak their listings ahead of time, legal experts say. Catherine Morisset, a partner at the Seattle law firm Fisher & Phillips, and firm associate Dean Petitta offer tips companies can take to adopting the state’s requirements:
- Establish steps to create wage or salary scales for all company positions.
- Consider working with a compensation analyst or conducting a compensation audit.
- Enact a process so information is included in external job postings.
- Communicate clearly with third-party services so that a wage or salary scale is included in every job listing.
- Consider auditing your company’s existing employee salaries so that new job posts contain accurate compensation metrics.
This story was originally published December 5, 2022 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Starting in 2023, most employers must list salary details in job ads in Washington state."
