WSJ parent accused of violating NYC pay transparency law

The parent of The Wall Street Journal has been charged with violating a New York City law by posting wide salary bands that didn’t qualify as “good faith” estimates, reports Chris Marr of Bloomberg Law.

Marr reports, “The commission alleged that News Corp.—which owns The Wall Street Journal and other media outlets—posted at least four jobs in July 2023 with pay ranges that violated the law. Those included an education reporter job paying anywhere from $50,000 to $180,000 annually and a video journalist position paying $40,000 to $160,000, according to the complaint dated Dec. 4.

“‘What really stood out to me were the violations for posting ranges that the commission determined were not made in good faith,’ said Stacey A. Bastone, an attorney with Jackson Lewis P.C. in New York.

“Since the city first passed its law in 2022, businesses have been wrestling with the best way to comply and many decided that advertising wide pay ranges was a good strategy, she said. That’s partly to give themselves flexibility to offer lower or higher salaries depending on candidates’ experience and qualifications, and also partly to assuage concerns about how current employees will react if they see advertised ranges that are too far out of sync with their own pay.”

Read more here.