New York has passed a law that makes employers prove they're actually hiring when they post a job opening. The law targets "ghost jobs" — positions listed online that aren't real or have already been filled.

Under Bill S8877, companies with 100 or more employees must say how long they plan to search for candidates. Job sites like Indeed and LinkedIn can face fines if they post listings that break the rules. That's important: the law holds the job sites themselves responsible, not just the companies posting the jobs. Job sites now have a reason to catch violations before they happen.

The law applies to mid-size and large employers. Small businesses are exempt. The governor still needs to sign it before it becomes law.

Ghost jobs waste everyone's time. Job seekers spend hours applying to positions that don't actually exist or are already filled. They get confused about what jobs are really available and often expect higher pay because they're looking at roles with no real opening. For the broader economy, fake listings throw off unemployment numbers and make it harder for companies to plan their hiring.

This law is part of a bigger trend. Bloomberg Law reported in May 2026 that states are moving past salary transparency laws — where companies had to post pay ranges — and are now focusing on ghost jobs and how companies use artificial intelligence in hiring. Salary rules were easy to enforce: either a company posted a number or it didn't. Proving a job posting is fake is much harder, because it depends on what the company was really thinking and how their hiring systems work.

New York sidesteps some of that problem by requiring a specific hiring timeline — something auditors can actually check — instead of just asking companies to promise a job is real. This makes the rule easier to enforce.

Tech companies will feel this law directly. Large companies that keep listings up just to stay visible on job sites will need to either set real hiring dates or take the postings down. Software companies that make hiring tools will need to build systems that check for compliance. Many tech companies operate in New York or have employees there, so this law affects them even if they're headquartered elsewhere.

What's different about this law is that it holds job sites responsible alongside employers. Sites like Indeed have the ability to block postings that violate the rules when they arrive. Now they have a financial reason to do it. This should speed up compliance much faster than waiting for inspectors to check each listing.

The bigger question is whether other states will copy this approach. Salary transparency started with a handful of states and is now standard across the country for large companies. If ghost job rules follow the same path, the way New York wrote this law — the timeline requirement, holding platforms liable, the company size threshold — could become the model other states copy.