Pay Transparency and Pay Equity – How to keep your employees, and the law, happy with your compensation.

Overview:

Pay transparency and pay equity are no longer just HR talking points. They are becoming everyday compliance, recruiting, payroll, and employee-relations issues for employers across the country.

As more states and local jurisdictions require employers to disclose pay ranges in job postings, provide compensation information to applicants or employees, and justify how pay decisions are made, organizations are facing a new level of pressure around compensation practices. A salary range that looks simple in a job posting can quickly raise difficult questions: Is the range defensible? Does it match what current employees earn? Are managers prepared to explain it? Could remote hiring trigger rules in another state? Have pay differences been reviewed before employees, applicants, or regulators start asking questions?

At the same time, pay equity remains a legal and practical concern. Employers still need to understand how the Equal Pay Act, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, and state equal pay laws apply to compensation decisions, pay adjustments, promotions, job classifications, and employee complaints. Payroll, HR, compensation, recruiting, finance, and department leaders must work from the same playbook so pay practices are consistent, documented, and explainable.

This webinar will help employers understand the current pay transparency and pay equity landscape, the key differences between federal and state requirements, and the practical steps needed to reduce risk. The session will cover how to review pay practices, prepare compliant job postings, conduct pay audits, communicate compensation decisions, respond to employee questions, and build a pay transparency approach that supports compliance without creating unnecessary disruption inside the organization.

Join Mark Schwartz for a practical, employer-focused discussion on how to keep compensation practices compliant, competitive, and credible in 2026.

In the webinar, you will learn:

Pay Transparency:

• Its goals and benefits to your company, including company culture
• Employee Retention
• Stronger recruiting efforts
• It’s possible negative effects on your employees and HR
• Negotiations
• Implementation Issues
• Poaching
• The four steps for implementing Pay Transparency
• Conducting a pay audit
• Delivering transparent communication
• Fusing Pay transparency into the work culture
• Goals and progress reports
• State and local laws
• General requirements under all State regulations
• State and local specific laws from California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, New York and more

Equal Pay:

• The Equal Pay Act of 1963 – Demands equal pay for work based on
• Skill
• Effort
• Responsibility
• The Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009- addresses when a claim of unequal pay based on sex can be filed
• Example of claims
• Limitations
• Impact on Employers
• The Importance of Compliance with Equal Pay Laws and Best Practices
• How to discuss pay equity with employees
• Key Discussion Points in Interviews, Hiring and During Employment
• Answering Common Employee Questions
• State Equal Pay Regulations
• General Rules for All States
• Expanded Rules for California, New York and Maryland
• Other states with unique rules.

To support implementation of the concepts discussed during the webinar, attendees will receive the following handouts:

• Pay Transparency Job Posting Compliance Checklist
• Pay Equity Audit Preparation Worksheet
• Employee Pay Questions Response Guide

Why should you attend?

Pay transparency sounds simple until an employer has to put a salary range in writing, explain it to current employees, defend how the range was created, and make sure the same approach works across multiple states.

This webinar will help you understand where pay transparency and pay equity create real compliance exposure for employers in 2026. You will learn how federal equal pay requirements, state pay transparency rules, job posting obligations, salary range disclosures, internal equity concerns, and employee pay questions can overlap in day-to-day HR and payroll decisions.

Attending this session will help you identify gaps in your current compensation practices before they lead to employee complaints, recruiting issues, inconsistent pay decisions, or legal risk. You will also gain practical guidance on how to conduct a pay audit, communicate pay decisions more confidently, prepare managers for difficult conversations, and build a more consistent approach to compensation across your organization.

Whether your company is hiring across state lines, managing remote employees, updating job postings, reviewing pay practices, or trying to improve employee trust around compensation, this webinar will give you a clearer understanding of what to watch, what to document, and what steps to take next.

Who will benefit?

This webinar is designed for professionals responsible for compensation decisions, payroll compliance, job postings, hiring practices, pay audits, and employee pay-related questions. It will be especially valuable for those who need to understand how pay transparency and pay equity requirements affect day-to-day HR, payroll, and management decisions, including:

• Human Resources Managers
• Payroll Managers
• Compensation Managers
• Total Rewards Managers
• HR Compliance Managers
• Payroll Compliance Managers
• Recruiting Managers
• Talent Acquisition Managers
• Benefits and Compensation Specialists
• HR Business Partners
• Employee Relations Managers
• Compliance Officers
• Finance Managers
• Budget Managers
• Department Managers
• Operations Managers
• Business Owners
• Office Managers
• In-House Counsel
• Employment Law Compliance Professionals