Washington's pay transparency law takes effect Jan. 1. Here's what it covers.
In January, employers in Washington state will have to provide salary ranges in all job postings due to a change in state law. But it won't require that they give a full picture of compensation to employees.
Senate Bill 5761, signed by Gov. Jay Inslee in April, has been heralded as a big win for pay equity. It will require any job postings from employers in Washington with more than 15 employees to provide explicit salary ranges. It follows similar legislation passed in California, Colorado and New York City.
The law, as written, even seems to account for one of Washington's top industries: tech. If a role has different titles based on experience, the posting must provide ranges for each level. These scaled ranges are common at tech companies which, for example, have tiered levels of software engineers.
But at companies like Amazon and Microsoft — the state's two largest employers — base salaries don't tell the full story, as they count on restricted stock units and bonuses to round out compensation packages.
https://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2022/12/28/washington-pay-transparency-law-tech.html
