New York’s Proposed Wage Payment Integrity Act: What Employers Should Be Doing Now

New York lawmakers have passed Senate Bill 2236-A, known as the “Wage Payment Integrity Act” (the “Act”), which would significantly expand what qualifies as protected “wages” under the New York Labor Law (“NYLL”) and would give employees enhanced tools to recover unpaid compensation. The Act would modify NYLL §§ 190, 195, and 198-c to widen the statutory meaning of “wages,” establish a rigorous disclosure standard for any compensation an employer wishes to classify as purely discretionary, introduce an evidentiary presumption against employers where an employer fails to provide written employment terms, and clarify civil remedies available to higher-paid employees. Should the Act become law, any employee compensation not expressly reserved to the employer’s sole and absolute discretion could fall within the statutory definition of wages, representing a major shift that could capture bonuses historically treated as discretionary and outside the scope of the Act (e.g., those linked to team performance, departmental objectives, or company-wide results). READ MORE

Falling behind? State and local government employee compensation since the Great Recession

New research by Byron Lutz and David Ratner of the Federal Reserve Board and Louise Sheiner of the Hutchins Center on compensation of state and local government employees goes beyond wages to put a dollar value on the benefits that standard compensation metrics mismeasure or leave out entirely: defined benefit pensions, retiree health care, and job security. They find that compensation of state and local workers has fallen substantially relative to comparable private sector workers since the Great Recession. READ MORE

Employee demands 10% raise because he's bilingual, even though his second language is Welsh: 'The manager then told me that the policy meant Spanish'

It's a perk for anyone to be bilingual, but in this workplace environment, it served as justification for a raise.

That's because employees at this company were often required to take work trips to other offices and sites where colleagues and clients did not necessarily speak English. Recently, in order to attract more bilingual employees to the company (and in order to reward current employees who often have to be the point people in these communications), a new policy was enforced where bilingual employees would be granted a 10% raise. Given that these employees often had to take the reins for a lot of these conversations with non-English-speaking clients, the policy seemed fair enough. READ MORE

AI Is Hollowing Out Software Jobs — But Paying Survivors a Fortune

An Indeed Hiring Lab report published last week quantified what software workers have felt for two years: the people still getting hired earn far more, and there are far fewer of them. Advertised pay in the most AI-exposed US occupations has climbed roughly 46% since the start of 2021, compared with 25% for the least-exposed jobs, including nursing, food prep, and cleaning. The gap started widening in 2024 and continues now. READ MORE

Congratulations, you're a manager now! But there's no promotion — or a raise

You entered your profession because you wanted to teach, code, write, create, or design. But thanks to AI — and the immense pressure to use it — you now spend less time practicing your craft and more time managing the technology that's doing the work you wanted to do.

For many professionals, that means supervising agents: tools designed to perform tasks autonomously but that, in practice, require workers to set expectations, delegate assignments, evaluate performance, demand revisions, and intervene when things go wrong. Others manage a steady pipeline of AI-generated work, reviewing the output and taking responsibility for what ultimately ships. READ MORE

Jobs that earn six figures without going to college (and why they are rare)

As college costs and student debt have Americans doubting the value of higher education, there's growing interest in high-paying jobs that don't require a degree - and in public policy supporting training for them. But six-figure jobs that skip a bachelor's degree do require more than a high school diploma and remain rare, according to an analysis released Monday by Niche, a higher education platform.

The highest salaries for workers without a bachelor's degree are typically in jobs gated by federal certification or specialized training, including commercial pilots, air traffic controllers, elevator installers and nuclear reactor operators, the study shows. READ MORE

Amid layoff fears, 54% of workers would take a pay cut for greater security

With layoff headlines abounding, it's no wonder workers feel squeamish. And they're increasingly willing to vote with their feet in order to find a job where they feel secure.

According to new research from Monster, 54% of the more than 1,000 U.S. workers surveyed would take a pay cut at a different employer in exchange for more stability. And many are open to a substantial cut: Twenty-eight percent would accept a reduction of at least 5%, while 11% would be OK with a more than 10% cut. READ MORE

Stablecoin salaries can leave workers paying to access their wages

Every paycheck eventually has to pay for something: rent, groceries, transport, or bills.

Stablecoins can move between wallets in seconds. But that does not mean an employee can spend the money immediately. They may still need to convert the stablecoins into local currency, move the money to a bank account, and pay fees along the way.

That's becoming more important as companies offer stablecoin payroll. READ MORE

Which Creative College Degrees Offer the Highest Salaries and Strongest Job Prospects?

Do you want to pursue a creative bachelor’s degree while still aiming for a higher salary? Several creative majors earn more than the typical college graduate.

The highest-earning creative major, advertising and public relations, pays a median of about $92,000 mid-career, according to the most recent data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. That beats the $80,236 median for workers with a bachelor’s degree, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ most recent analysis. READ MORE

The value of a college degree can’t be measured by salary alone

Ask whether college is worth the cost, and the conversation will quickly turn to jobs. Will graduates find employment? How much will they earn? Will their salaries justify what they spent or borrowed to attend?

These are necessary questions. College is expensive, and students deserve honest information about whether a degree will improve their economic circumstances. Institutions should be accountable for helping students graduate and preparing them for meaningful work. But in our effort to prove that college pays, we have begun to treat earnings as though they are the only return that matters. READ MORE

The gender wage gap improved in 2025, unless you’re a Black woman

This week, new data from the Census Bureau revealed that women working full-time, year-round earned 83.9 cents for every dollar earned by men in 2025, up from 80.6 cents in 2024. This means women’s median earnings increased 3.2% over the year while men’s remained relatively the same, narrowing the gender wage gap by more than three cents in a single year. READ MORE

OpenAI is offering engineers up to $500,000 in salary as it pushes into robotics

OpenAI is offering robotics engineers up to half a million dollars a year in base salaries as it builds out its robotics efforts.

The company has 27 robotics jobs listed on its careers page, up from 11 in May, spanning hardware, software, data collection, and prototyping, according to Business Insider's review. Publicly advertised base salaries range from $177,000 to half a million dollars a year, before equity. READ MORE

‘Rampant pay cynicism’ threatens companies, report finds

"We are seeing a breakdown in the contract between employers and employees," Gordon Frost, global rewards leader at Marsh, said in a statement. "A depleted workforce paired with cynicism about pay creates a precarious moment for employers."

Improving pay transparency and skills-based rewards can have a profound impact on employee morale, Marsh found. Workers who said they feel they're being fairly compensated report being 85% more engaged and 60% more committed. READ MORE

More than half of young workers want to switch jobs soon for better pay, benefits

"Younger professionals are taking a proactive approach to their careers, and for many that includes exploring new roles that offer stronger earning potential, advancement opportunities and flexibility," Dawn Fay, operational president of Robert Half, said in a statement. "Employers should be clear about growth paths, compensation, and the support available to help retain workers and encourage them to build their skills." READ MORE

The fast-food chain where managers average more than $200K a year

In-N-Out Burger store managers make more than $200,000 annually on average, which the fast-food chain says reflects the company's philosophy of investing in its workforce.

"I can confirm that our In-N-Out Burger store managers earn more than $200,000 a year on average," Chief Operating Officer Denny Warnick said in a statement to FOX Business.

Warnick noted that In-N-Out's founders, Harry and Esther Snyder, believed in "taking really great care of our associates." READ MORE

Amazon increases minimum starting hourly wage for full-time core operations employees

Online behemoth Amazon said it's increasing the minimum starting hourly wage for its U.S. full-time core operations employees to $20 ahead of the crucial holiday shopping season.

With the $1-per-hour increase across the board for these workers who do jobs like pack and ship orders, the average pay for these employees will reach nearly $24 per hour, the company said Wednesday. The retailer said the average total compensation will be more than $32 an hour including the value of its benefits package. READ MORE

SEC Proposes Ending Oversight of Shareholder Votes on Climate and Executive Pay

The proposal had been anticipated since last month and forms part of a wider reallocation of influence from investors toward corporate managers at the SEC, which currently has three Republican members and two unfilled seats that were previously held by Democrats. The top Wall Street regulator also proposed other changes, including the elimination of a rule requiring companies to produce glossy annual reports that the agency said duplicate information already contained in their annual Form 10-K filings. READ MORE