Job-hunting? CT employment ads will now include salaries and benefits
Job postings must include a "good faith" salary range and estimated benefits under a new law that Gov. Ned Lamont signed on Monday. But some businesses think it could actually cost applicants extra money.
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Soon, all employment listings in Connecticut will include a salary range and benefits, thanks to a new law that Gov. Ned Lamont signed on Monday afternoon.
It’s part of wide-ranging legislation that labor unions and employers battled over for years.
SALARIES IN JOB POSTINGS
Scrolling through job ads is hard enough, but then you have to guess what many of the positions actually pay.
“I’ve been on interviews and then you find out, ‘Oh, this sounds like an interesting job to me,’” said Nancy Norwood, of Norwalk. “And then you find out the salary and it’s like, ‘No, that doesn’t meet what I need.’”
That’s about to change.
The new law requires all job postings to include a “good faith” estimate of job’s salary range and expected benefits. New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts already require it.
“Requiring wage transparency in job postings so workers know their worth when they’re walking into the room,” said Connecticut AFL-CIO President Ed Hawthorne.
Currently, employers only have to reveal the salary if you ask or they offer you a job. The new rules take effect on Oct. 1.
OTHER CHANGES
The new law includes other big employment changes.
Health care workers and educators will get enhanced workers comp benefits if they are assaulted on the job and a new standardized process for firing tenured teachers.
“We didn’t have the same rights as police and fire – male-dominated professions,” said Kate Dias, president of the Connecticut Education Association.
Workers will be guaranteed breastfeeding breaks starting on Oct. 1. And service workers will be able to keep their jobs for 90 days when a new owner purchases their building.
“Previously workers had no legal protections to keep their positions if their building is sold or new management comes in,” said 32BJ SEIU union vice president Rochelle Palache.
BUSINESSES SAY IT COULD BACKFIRE
It took years to pass the salary transparency law. Businesses argued that it could actually cost job applicants money by taking away their flexibility to negotiate salary.
“Recruiting often begins with exploratory conversations to determine whether there is mutual interest before discussing compensation, detailed job descriptions and overall benefits,” Paul Amarone, senior policy director at the Connecticut Business and Industry Association, told lawmakers. “Requiring disclosure before any compensation discussion formalizes early-stage conversations and may stall preliminary discussions between employers and applicants.”
Employers also argued that the new law takes away their competitive advantage.
“Requiring public disclosure of wage ranges will put Connecticut businesses at a competitive disadvantage, by exposing internal compensation strategies to competitors,” Brooke Foley with the Insurance Association of Connecticut told lawmakers last year.
But Norwood doesn’t buy it.
“It’s better to be up front,” she said. “You’re not going to waste the potential employee's or the employer's time.”
Either is Ben Carapezzi, of Norwalk.
“It’s really important for businesses to treat potential employees fairly and I think that level of transparency is required,” he said. “Especially for people looking for jobs, I think that it’s important to know what they're getting themselves into and they have to be able to, you know, not waste their time looking in the wrong spots.”
Lamont, who is courting the union vote in his bid for a third term, took on the law’s critics.
“They said, ‘Oh, the bill is so long!’” he said. “It’s all about respect and dignity for the folks that do the work in this state. Maybe the bill wasn't long enough.”
