Your pay rights in New Jersey

New Jersey pay and benefits transparency law (P.L.2024, c.91) (N.J.S.A. 34:6B-23 (pay transparency); N.J.S.A. 34:6B-20 and 10:5-12.12 (salary history))

Job posting rules in effect since June 1, 2025

New Jersey employers with 10 or more employees must list the pay or pay range, a general description of benefits, and other compensation programs (like bonuses or commissions) in job and transfer postings.

Who is covered

Employers with 10 or more employees over 20 calendar weeks (the employees can work inside or outside New Jersey) that do business, employ people or take job applications in New Jersey. This includes the State, counties, towns, and job placement, referral and employment agencies. The state Department of Labor says covered employers' nationwide or remote postings must comply. The rule covers postings for new jobs and transfer opportunities, advertised internally or externally. Temp help and consulting firms do not need pay in postings for possible future openings, but must give the information at interview or hire for a specific opening.

What a job posting must show

The hourly wage or salary, or a range of the hourly wage or salary. The state says a range needs both a bottom and a top, not 'up to $35' or '$70,000 and up'.
A general description of benefits. The state says vague phrases like 'great benefits' are not enough.
Other compensation programs the employee would be eligible for, for example commissions, bonuses or profit-sharing

Pay history

Employers may not screen you based on your pay history or require it to meet a minimum or maximum, and your refusal to share it cannot be held against you. If you share it voluntarily and without prompting, they may consider and verify it. An employer that also hires in other states may keep a salary history question on its application form if it says, right before the question, that applicants for New Jersey jobs should not answer it.

What you can do

File a complaint with the NJ Department of Labor and Workforce Development online, or by mail or fax. Choose 'Other' as the complaint reason, and include a printed or downloaded copy of the posting showing the date and web address.
A trusted person, such as a union or community group representative, can file for you.
Current employees: employers must make reasonable efforts to tell everyone in the affected departments about advertised promotion opportunities before deciding.
The posted pay can go up when you get an offer; the law allows employers to offer more than posted.

Where to report a posting without pay

New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Division of Wage and Hour Compliance

Up to $300 for the first violation and up to $600 for each later violation. All postings for one job opening count as one violation, even on many sites; each separate job opening that fails counts separately. Pay history violations: up to $1,000 for the first, $5,000 for the second, and $10,000 for each later violation.

Sources

The Department of Labor has proposed rules (N.J.A.C. 12:74) that would add details, including a cap on range width (the top no more than 60% above the bottom). As of the last check the Department's own page said they had not been adopted and were non-binding, so the 60% rule is not a legal requirement. The law gives applicants no right to request the range and no private right to sue over postings. For applicants in a protected class, a pay history violation may also be illegal discrimination, handled by the NJ Division on Civil Rights. In March 2026 the Department reached voluntary compliance agreements with 42 large employers.