California Bill Would Require Pay Range in Job Ads

A proposed bill in California would make pay more transparent. Under the bill, employers with 15 or more employees would have to include pay range in all of their job postings and publicly report how much certain groups of employees are paid.

"I give the bill a moderate chance of passing," said Anthony Zaller, an attorney with Zaller Law Group, based in El Segundo, Calif. "If passed, it would be one of the strongest pay transparency laws in the country. Not only does the bill require employers to report wages for employees across race, gender and position in the company, it also proposes to publish each employer's information on the Internet." READ MORE

Microsoft to Begin Disclosing Salaries, Drops Non-Compete Clauses

Microsoft has announced a raft of beneficial new employment policies. The biggest change is it will begin divulging salary ranges for open positions. Microsoft isn’t being benevolent — this will be required by Washington state law starting in 2023. However, the company has also announced three other changes to its employment policies. Given the competitive nature of the tech market, it might just spur other companies to do likewise. READ MORE

Executive compensation, earnings best practices, corporate access and IR salary & career research findings revealed

Turning to executive compensation in North America, IR Magazine’s spokesperson said a higher proportion of North American companies, compared with companies in other regions, report that no one from the board speaks to investors about executive compensation. ‘But 52 percent of global investors say they expect the board to discuss this with them,’ the spokesperson said. READ MORE

A Job Applicant Is Not An Employee For Compensation Purposes

The Ninth Circuit recently concluded that job applicants are not entitled to compensation for time devoted to pre-employment drug tests because an employment relationship has not yet been formed. The Ninth Circuit held that the “control test” does not apply to job applicants, and that, under California contract law, the applicants had no contract for employment until they passed the pre-hire drug tests. Johnson v. WinCo Foods. READ MORE

Examining the Potential of New Executive Compensation Structures

The core responsibility of designing compensation plans that attract, retain and motivate the right CEO and his/her executive team requires new levels of creativity and flexibility — more customization to each organization’s unique circumstances than ever before. 

We’ve all heard the expression “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.” But even if something isn’t broken, it may not be functioning optimally. This certainly applies to executive compensation plans, which overall have become relatively stagnant. READ MORE

Washington to Require Salary Ranges in Job Postings Starting 2023

Effective January 1, 2023, Washington employers with at least 15 employees must affirmatively disclose the wage scale or salary range and a general description of all benefits and other compensation being offered when posting job openings, regardless of whether such information is requested by the applicant.

Washington joins the growing number of states requiring employers to include salary ranges and benefits offerings on job postings. READ MORE

Engineering Candidates Most Often Decline Job Offers Due to Low Base Salary

Despite signs of an economic slowdown in tech, high-growth companies are still looking to fill crucial technical roles this year while conserving spend in a volatile market. According to new research from compensation intelligence provider OpenComp, engineering candidates most often decline job offers due to low base salary, which means hiring managers will need best-in-class data to ensure offers are competitive in the market without spending beyond tightened budgets. READ MORE

New York State Passes Bill Requiring Compensation Ranges in Job Postings

On June 1, 2022, the New York State Legislature passed Senate Bill S9427A, which would amend the New York Labor Law (NYLL) by requiring that employers disclose compensation ranges in job, promotion, and transfer advertisements. This bill comes on the heels of New York City’s recent enactment of a similar law. While New York City’s salary disclosure law is set to take effect on November 1, 2022, the statewide law would go into effect 270 days after being signed into law. Eyes are now on Governor Kathy Hochul as we await her action on the bill. READ MORE

SEC Reopens Clawback Comment Period…Again

On June 8, 2022, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) issued a release (“New Reopening Release“), reopening the comment period on the clawback listing standard rules that it proposed in 2015 (“2015 Proposal“). At the same time, the SEC made available a memorandum prepared by the staff of the SEC’s Division of Economic and Risk Analysis (“Staff Memorandum“) that discusses the increase in voluntary adoption of compensation recovery policies by issuers and provides estimates of the number of additional restatements that would trigger a compensation recovery analysis if the rules were extended to include all required restatements made to correct an error in previously issued financial statements, including “little r” restatements. The Staff Memorandum also addresses some potential costs and benefits of the proposed rules. The SEC reopened the comment period to allow interested persons to consider and comment on the analyses and data set forth in the Staff Memorandum. READ MORE