New Jersey’s groundbreaking Pay Transparency Law, which took effect on June 1, 2025, represents one of the most significant advances in workplace equality in recent years. This landmark legislation requires employers to disclose salary ranges in job postings and prohibits them from asking about salary history during the hiring process. However, many New Jersey employers are struggling to comply with these new requirements—and some are actively trying to circumvent them.
If you’re a job seeker or employee in New Jersey, understanding your rights under the Pay Transparency Law is crucial for ensuring you receive fair compensation and aren’t the victim of wage discrimination. When employers violate these transparency requirements, they may be engaging in illegal pay discrimination that can cost you thousands of dollars in lost wages.
If you believe an employer has violated New Jersey’s Pay Transparency Law or engaged in wage discrimination, consulting with an experienced New Jersey employment attorney can help you understand your rights and pursue appropriate legal remedies.
Understanding New Jersey’s Pay Transparency Law
New Jersey’s Pay Transparency Law was designed to address persistent wage gaps that have historically disadvantaged women, minorities, and other protected groups. By requiring employers to disclose salary information upfront and prohibiting salary history inquiries, the law aims to create a more equitable hiring process.
Key Requirements of the Law
The Pay Transparency Law imposes several specific requirements on New Jersey employers. All job postings must include the hourly wage or salary range for the position, including minimum and maximum compensation amounts. Employers cannot ask job applicants about their salary history, including previous wages, benefits, or other compensation.
Internal job postings and promotion opportunities must also include salary range information for current employees. Employers must provide salary range information to employees upon request for their current position or any position they’re considering.
The law applies to all employers with 10 or more employees, covering the vast majority of New Jersey workplaces. Violations can result in significant penalties and legal liability.
What Employers Must Disclose
The salary range disclosure requirements are comprehensive and designed to provide meaningful information. Employers must disclose the lowest to highest salary the employer in good faith believes it might pay for the position, based on factors like experience, education, and other qualifications.
The range must reflect the actual salary the employer is prepared to pay, not an artificially wide range designed to avoid meaningful disclosure. Benefits information, while not required in job postings, must be provided upon request during the interview process.
Prohibited Practices
The law specifically prohibits several practices that have historically contributed to wage discrimination. Employers cannot ask about salary history at any point during the hiring process, require applicants to disclose salary history as a condition of employment, or retaliate against employees who request salary information or complain about pay transparency violations.
Why Employers Are Struggling with Compliance
Despite the law being in effect since June 2025, many New Jersey employers are struggling to comply with pay transparency requirements. Some of this non-compliance appears to be intentional, while other violations result from confusion or inadequate legal guidance.
Common compliance failures include posting artificially wide salary ranges that provide little meaningful information, failing to include salary information in job postings altogether, and attempting to circumvent the law by posting jobs without salary ranges and only providing information when requested.
Some employers are actively resisting pay transparency requirements, using tactics like posting jobs with vague titles to avoid salary disclosure requirements, using contract positions to avoid coverage, and relocating job postings to other states to avoid New Jersey requirements.
Employers who violate the law face significant legal and financial consequences, including investigations by the New Jersey Department of Labor and private lawsuits that can result in substantial damages and attorney’s fees.
How Pay Transparency Violations Harm Workers
When employers violate pay transparency requirements, the harm extends far beyond simple inconvenience. These violations can perpetuate wage discrimination and cost workers significant money over their careers.
Salary history inquiries are one of the primary mechanisms through which wage discrimination persists across jobs. When employers base new salary offers on previous wages, they perpetuate historical discrimination that may have resulted in lower pay for women, minorities, and other protected groups.
When job seekers don’t know the salary range for a position, they’re at a significant disadvantage in negotiations. They may accept offers that are far below what the employer was prepared to pay, or they may make unrealistic demands that remove them from consideration.
Pay transparency helps level the playing field by giving job seekers the information they need to negotiate effectively. This is particularly important for groups that have historically been disadvantaged in salary negotiations.
Legal Protections and Remedies
New Jersey’s Pay Transparency Law provides several avenues for enforcement when employers violate transparency requirements. The New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development can investigate complaints, conduct audits, and impose penalties on employers who violate the law.
Employees and job applicants can also file private lawsuits against employers who violate pay transparency requirements. Successful lawsuits can result in monetary damages, including lost wages and benefits, emotional distress damages, and attorney’s fees.
Pay transparency violations often occur alongside other forms of employment discrimination, which can strengthen legal claims and result in additional remedies under New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination and federal employment laws.
Recognizing Pay Transparency Violations
Learning to recognize pay transparency violations can help you protect your rights. Warning signs in job postings include missing salary information, vague salary descriptions like “competitive salary” without specific ranges, and artificially wide salary ranges that provide little meaningful information.
During the application and interview process, direct questions about salary history are prohibited, as are indirect questions that seek the same information. Application forms that request salary history information violate the law, even if marked as “optional.”
The law also applies to internal job postings and promotion opportunities. When employers fail to include salary ranges in internal postings or refuse to provide salary information upon request, they may be violating transparency requirements.
Retaliation against employees who request salary information or complain about pay transparency violations is illegal and may provide additional legal remedies.
Taking Action to Protect Your Rights
If you’ve encountered pay transparency violations, taking prompt action is important for protecting your rights. Document the violation immediately and preserve all evidence, including job postings, applications, and communications with the employer.
If you’re still in the application process, consider requesting salary information in writing to create a clear record. Continue to perform professionally and avoid giving the employer additional reasons to take adverse action.
Consult with an experienced New Jersey employment attorney who understands pay transparency law and can evaluate the strength of your case. Your attorney can help you determine the best approach, whether through administrative complaints or private litigation.
Your Right to Fair Pay Information
New Jersey’s Pay Transparency Law represents a significant step forward in the fight for workplace equality and fair compensation. However, the law is only effective if it’s properly enforced. When employers violate pay transparency requirements, they undermine the law’s goals and harm individual workers
Our experienced lawyer, Charles Z. Schalk is committed to protecting the rights of New Jersey workers under all employment laws, including the new Pay Transparency Law. We understand the complex legal issues surrounding wage discrimination and have the experience necessary to hold employers accountable.
Don’t let pay transparency violations go unchallenged. Contact us today at (908) 526-0707 to schedule your confidential consultation. Your right to fair pay information is too important to ignore.