New California law means employers have to tell you what they pay. Here are the details

With the new year comes updated California laws, including the anticipated change to how state employers disclose pay scales.

Starting Jan. 1, certain employers must disclose company job salaries. Gov. Gavin Newsom approved Assembly Bill 1162, the golden state’s updated salary and wage law, in September.

Here’s what the new law means for both employed Californians and those seeking employment, plus state employers.

What does the new California pay transparency law change?

Before the 2023 law change, a California job’s pay scale — salary or hourly wage an employer pays for a position — was only disclosed upon a “reasonable request” by the applicant or the person pursuing employment.

Meaning, it was up to the applicant to seek out information on how much a job is paying for the position they’re interested in applying for.

The new law puts the responsibility on the employer.

What California’s new pay transparency law means for employees

Starting Jan 1., employers with at least 15 employees must include the company’s open job position’s pay scale with every listing including on third-party websites like Indeed, Glassdoor and ZipRecruiter.

AB 1162 will also change the rights of current California employees.

Starting Jan. 1, state employees will be able to request the pay scale of their current position if their employer manages at least 15 workers.

What California’s new pay transparency law means for employers

If an employer of 15 employees or more fails to comply with the California’s new pay transparency rules starting Jan. 1, they could owe the state hefty fines.

Complaints will be investigated by the state’s labor commissioner. If an employer is found to be in violation of the law, they must pay a civil penalty of $100 to $10,000. The fine amount will be decided based on several factors including if the employer has violated California’s new pay transparency law before.

Employers caught in their first violation of the new pay transparency laws won’t receive a penalty, only if they fix all their job postings to show the job position’s pay scale including on third-party websites.

Starting this year, private employers with 100 or more employees must submit a pay data report to California’s Civil Rights Department that includes workers’ hourly rates along with the race, ethnicity and sex in each job category.

The pay data report must include the “median and mean hourly rate for each combination of race, ethnicity and sex within each job category.” The first report is due May 2023, and every year after that.

The new pay data law extends to private employers with 100 or more labor contractors.

This story was originally published January 1, 2023 at 5:00 AM.