Trends in State Policy Pose New Compliance Challenges for HR

State-level workplace policies are changing rapidly. SHRM recently hosted a webinar, “State Policy Trends: What HR Needs to Know,” featuring Emily M. Dickens, J.D., chief of staff and head of government affairs at SHRM, to explore the compliance challenges HR teams across the country are facing because of this. Joining her were Chris Micheli, an attorney with governmental relations and advocacy firm Snodgrass & Micheli in Sacramento, Calif.; Katie Schwab, an attorney with lobbying and public affairs firm Cozen O’Connor Public Strategies in New York City; and D’Arcy Philps, an attorney with education and workforce advocacy firm Penn Hill Group in Washington, D.C.  

Push for Pay Transparency

In recent years, the issue of whether to post salary information in job postings has become a hot topic in state legislatures. Fourteen states and Washington, D.C., have enacted pay transparency laws, with another 10 considering proposed legislation as of May 2025.  

“At some point in the near future, we could have half of all states in this country that have some type of pay transparency law,” Dickens said. None of these laws will be exactly the same, so organizations may need to manage multistate compliance.  

In 2022, New York City passed a law requiring companies to post salary ranges when advertising open positions. The state followed suit shortly thereafter, going a step further by banning open-ended salary ranges such as “$20 per hour and up.” There was fear that there would be “these really meaningless, wide ranges of salaries being posted,” but “that hasn’t proven to be true,” Schwab said. The law has, in fact, been effective in encouraging pay transparency. Often, when the pay was not posted as required, it was due to a system error on the part of the job platform.  

Though there has been talk of increasing the amount of information required in pay transparency postings, the law seems to be meeting its intended purpose, so there is no present “interest in making dramatic changes,” Schwab said. She also pointed out that New York’s enforcement agency, the state Department of Labor, is chronically understaffed, which could make enforcement of complex compliance laws difficult.  

California, a state known for its progressive labor laws, has had a statewide pay transparency requirement since 2021, applying to employers with 15 or more workers. “One of the criticisms that we’ve heard and seen since then is the wide range” of posted salaries, Micheli said. Some jobs, for example, would list $70,000 to $200,000 per year, which is “not really a helpful pay range” for job applicants. 

Every year there have been “efforts to try to tinker” with these laws, Micheli continued. For instance, there has been a push to collect more detailed demographic data from large businesses with 100 or more employees.  

HR professionals in California have said “there are multiple factors that go into pay” scales, including education, experience, and training, Micheli said. Their argument would be that broader pay ranges reflect those influencing factors.  

According to Schwab, in highly regulated states such as California and New York, HR professionals are sending the following message to legislatures: “Please don’t make our jobs any more difficult.” Constantly changing the landscape makes it harder for companies to stay compliant, despite the good faith efforts they are making. By moving the goalposts every year, HR professionals are bogged down with compliance tasks such as updating paperwork, and worry about “a gotcha enforcement system,” Schwab said.  

Skills-Based Hiring: Going Beyond Education 

More than half of U.S. states have issued policy directives centered around skills-based hiring, according to National Governors Association research from February. While higher education still enjoys wide support, there is a growing emphasis on creating “other ways for people to get into good jobs,” such as apprenticeships, Dickens said. 

Apprenticeships are “such a beautiful model for people to really learn and get real skills-based training,” Schwab said. She noted the efforts made in New York to create apprenticeships for young people. 

California has also committed to getting people into high-paying jobs regardless of whether they have a college education. The state is prioritizing hands-on skills, such as those a person might attain through apprenticeships or technical programs, Micheli said.

On the federal level, the Trump administration has a goal of creating 1 million new apprenticeships. It is looking at “what barriers can be removed” to make that ambition achievable, Philps said. Over the next few years, “we’re going to see an uptick in federal involvement and, frankly, federal funding of apprenticeship programs.”

Skills-based hiring is “a very bipartisan issue,” Philps added. “I think we’re going to see a lot more coming out of the federal government here in the coming months and years,” continuing “the push we’ve seen at the state level.”

AI in the Workplace

As artificial intelligence continues to reshape society, the federal government and state governments appear to be at loggerheads when it comes to AI use in the workplace.  

The White House has made it clear through executive orders that “America wants to be the leader when it comes to AI,” Philps said. It backs a more “hands-off approach” on how AI is used in the workplace. New York City has tried a more cautious approach to the integration of AI technology. In 2021, it passed legislation to regulate automated decision-making software with regard to hiring.  

However, Schwab is “really not aware of any aggressive enforcement” of the law. Additional regulatory laws in New York have met resistance. “There are a number of bills that have been introduced, but nothing seems to get any traction,” she said. AI “is such a big, complex, and quickly evolving topic that I think legislatures are having a difficult time really narrowing in on what’s a manageable framework.”  

In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed an expansive AI regulatory bill last year. Newsom has advocated for a science-based approach and finding a balance between innovation and regulation. “He charged a group of AI experts, primarily academics, to come up with a report” concerning the responsible use of AI, Micheli said.  

Regardless, the California Legislature continues to introduce bills regulating AI use in the workplace. Under consideration are bills involving limiting surveillance, restricting automated decision-making systems, and limiting use of employee data, among others. “Labor has taken an aggressive stance in California,” Micheli explained, “so I would predict that we’ll see a number of legislative and rulemaking activities affecting the employment workspace.”