Mayor Fulop & Ward D Councilman Saleh Launch Education & Enforcement Campaign for Pay Transparency
Mayor Fulop & Ward D Councilman Saleh Launch Education & Enforcement Campaign for Pay Transparency
Jersey City Law Promotes Fairness & Equity in the Workplace, with Emphasis on Supporting Women & Minorities
Jersey City, NJ – Mayor Steven M. Fulop joins City Council President Joyce Watterman, Ward D Councilman Yousef Saleh, and City Council members to launch the Campaign Awareness for Pay Transparency to educate and enforce Jersey City’s Pay Transparency Ordinance designed to promote fairness and equity in the workplace. The ordinance requires City employers with five or more employees, staff, or independent contractors to include salary range and job benefits in every job posting, whether print or digital.
The Campaign Awareness for Pay Transparency will officially launch on Monday, April 3, 2023, to promote compliance. The purpose: To help attract and retain the best talent, foster a better work environment through unity and trust within an organization or company, and ensure all residents and employees are paid fairly and equally regardless of gender, race, or any other unjust factors.
“We already set the highest workplace standards and employee protections, and implementing pay transparency further secures adequate and equal pay for hardworking residents and employees throughout Jersey City,” said Mayor Fulop. “This pay transparency policy looks to encourage more of our diverse community to seek employment opportunities, attracting a more qualified pool of candidates to Jersey City while also boosting our local economy.”
The ordinance requires all job postings to include the minimum and maximum base salary or hourly wage of the job as well as any job benefits offered. Councilman Saleh introduced the ordinance with support from all four female Council cosponsors.
“In my experience with female coworkers in corporate America and seeing the challenges my seven sisters face in their job searches, I brought this pay transparency plan forward after witnessing firsthand the pay and workplace inequities disproportionately affecting women and minorities,” Councilman Saleh said of his efforts to bring the local law to fruition. “All people who search for a job should have direct knowledge of what the job entails and what it pays. This levels the playing field for everyone, and we can attract the best talent. It’s good for employers too, because it gives them market insights into salary ranges for jobs and skills.”
As part of the upcoming campaign, Jersey City’s Women’s Advisory Board, the brainchild of Council President Watterman, will provide outreach to minority groups, schools, and universities that may benefit positively from the ordinance and provide guidance regarding its implementation.
“As we indicated in the ordinance, women earn 84% of what men make for the same work or position. To make matters worse, minorities and minority women are paid even less for the same work or position. The time for change is now, and Jersey City is leading the charge to combat workplace inequities within our community that should have never existed,” added Council President Watterman.
The Pay Transparency Ordinance was unanimously approved by the City Council last year. By implementing pay transparency, Jersey City is raising the bar for others to follow suit, improving employee retention, and sustaining our local economy.
Mayor Fulop has been a staunch supporter of workplace fairness and equity since the start of his administration, as is evident by the timeline of major policies implemented below:
- 2013 – Just four months into his first term, Jersey City became the first in New Jersey to guarantee sick days, an effort led by Mayor Fulop to protect the health of our working families.
- 2015 – Mayor Fulop signed into law a Wage Theft Prevention Ordinance.
- 2016 – Mayor Fulop raised the minimum wage to $15 an hour, doubling the rate prior.
- 2021 – Salary Adjustment Ordinance introduced to retain top-level talent.
- 2021 – Mayor Fulop increased the minimum wage for all Jersey City employees to help hundreds of families, 95% of which are Jersey City residents.
- 2022 – Mayor Fulop created a $20 per hour Living Wage Statute to help offset historic inflation nationwide for hundreds of City workers and families.
Penalties for non-compliance with the Pay Transparency law include fines of up to $2,000. Reports of any employer in violation of the law can be made to the following offices directly:
