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 being 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:
