Governor Inslee is signing many laws. One recent bill signed into law requires employers to include a salary or pay range, as well as information about other compensation and benefits, in each job posting. The new law will require Washington employers with 15 or more employees to affirmatively disclose in all job postings a wage scale or wage range. It must also include “all of the benefits and other compensation to be offered” in connection with the position.
The current state law requires only that employers provide the minimum wage or salary for a position to an applicant after an offer of employment has been made. This new law revised this and takes effect on January 1, 2023.
In understanding the purposes of the law, “postings” means “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” and includes “any postings done electronically, or with a printed hard copy, that includes qualifications for desired applicants.”
The law does not define “wage scale,” “salary range,” or “benefits.” The term “compensation” is defined elsewhere in the same chapter of the law to mean “discretionary and nondiscretionary wages and benefits provided by an employer to an employee as a result of the employment relationship.”
The new law retains the current requirement to provide the wage scale or salary range for the employee’s new position. This is the case upon request of an employee offered an internal transfer to a new position or promotion.
Washington State now joins other jurisdictions including New York City and Colorado in requiring affirmative disclosure of wage information. Under the new law, employers will effectively now need to ensure that a wage scale or salary range is available for all roles subject to internal transfer.
