'Ghost jobs' could soon be illegal in New York

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Overview of the New York “Ghost Jobs” Bill

  • Bill S8877 targets “ghost jobs” — job ads with no real intent to hire — by requiring more disclosure and setting penalties.
  • Some commenters see it as a first step that will need iteration as employers discover loopholes (e.g., constantly moving the “fill by” date).

Support for the Bill

  • Many argue ghost postings waste applicants’ time and are cruel in a weak job market.
  • Seen as a way to realign incentives: companies should bear some cost for externalizing time and stress onto job seekers.
  • Some want this expanded federally and to other states, including consulting-heavy and visa-heavy employers.

Skepticism and Enforcement Concerns

  • Doubts about effectiveness if fines are small enough to be treated as a business expense.
  • New York is criticized for weak enforcement of existing salary-transparency rules; fear this law will also sit unenforced.
  • Some think existing fraud laws (e.g., wire fraud) could already cover egregious ghost postings if prosecutors chose to act.

Legitimate Edge Cases

  • Companies may:
    • Be waiting on contracts or budget approvals.
    • Struggle to find qualified candidates.
    • Have internal confusion about headcount.
  • Distinguishing bad-faith ghost jobs from slow or failed searches is seen as technically and evidentially hard.

Broader Hiring Frictions (Ghosting, Feedback, ATS)

  • Strong desire to ban ghosting applicants or require at least a minimal rejection email, mainly for psychological closure and planning.
  • Others warn this would push everyone into ATS workflows optimized for legal compliance, not transparency.
  • EU/GDPR examples are cited where applicants can request interview notes and reasons after rejection.

Visa, Compliance, and “Sham” Listings

  • H1B rules that require public postings are cited as a driver of sham ads where no non-visa candidate will ever be hired.
  • Commenters suggest fixing these upstream legal incentives rather than only punishing postings.

Platforms, Data Harvesting, and APIs

  • Concerns that some job platforms repost listings without employer engagement, effectively creating “phantom” pipelines and harvesting applications.
  • A job-posting aggregator wonders if it could be treated as a “third-party platform” under such laws and potentially liable or obligated to report violations.