NYC's wage gap crackdown is now targeting Tesla Inc. and News Corp. after numerous complaints under the pay transparency law were filed against them.
New York City accuses them of disregarding the requirements when it comes to posting job openings; especially regarding salary ranges.
NYC officials claim that the wide salary bands that Tesla and News Corp. provided in their job posts didn't qualify as "good faith" estimates.
NYC Wage Gap Crackdown Targets Tesla, News Corp
A job applicant (L) speaks with recruiter Renee Chandler (R) during an interview May 7, 2003 at the offices of Metro Support Group in New York City. The nation's jobless rate climbed to six percent in April, rising for the third straight month, adding up to half a million lost jobs.
According to Bloomberg Law's latest report, New York, NYC, Washington, and California have their own pay transparency law to combat racial and gender wage gaps. To do this, they ensure that more information about job positions is provided to applicants so that they can effectively negotiate with employers to have their desired/deserved salaries.
However, Tesla Inc. and News Corp. are allegedly ignoring this law. This was seen in the complaint filed by NYC's Commission on Human Rights against the EV maker.
The high rights commission claimed that Tesla posted at least four job listings without a pay range in June 2023 in NYC. Aside from this, four additional job openings were shared despite not having salary ranges made in good faith.
One of them was a Tesla field service technician opening that offers between $22 and $58 per hour, which is a pretty wide wage gap. Aside from Tesla, News Corp. also faces the same allegations.
The NYC human rights commission said that News Corp. posted at least four job openings in July 2023 with salary ranges that breached the pay transparency law.Among these are video journalist ($40,000-$160,000) and education reporter ($50,000-$180,000) job openings.
"What really stood out to me were the violations for posting ranges that the commission determined were not made in good faith," said Atty. Stacey A. Bastone of Jackson Lewis P.C.
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No Fine Against Tesla, News Corp
A Tesla model S sits parked outside of a new Tesla showroom and service center in Red Hook, Brooklyn on July 5, 2016 in New York City. The electric car company and its CEO and founder Elon Musk have come under increasing scrutiny following a crash of one of its electric cars.
Some U.S. states that have pay transparency laws said that they are implementing penalties, such as huge fines, against businesses that violate the legislation.
However, this is not the case for New York City. On the official webpage of the NYC human rights commission, it was revealed that around 1/3 of the complaints, including those filed against Tesla and News Corp., were dismissed.
The commission's spokesperson confirmed that the complaints that were dismissed didn't involve financial penalties. As of writing, NYC officials declined to comment if it will fine companies that have open pay transparency law violation cases, as reported by Fortune.
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