Matter of Tek Services concluded because the regulations do not require that the salary be mentioned at all in recruitment ads, the use of language such as competitive salary is permitted.
In Matter of Tek Services, the employer placed an ad that stated the position paid a competitive salary, without listing the actual salary amount. The DOL acknowledged that the regulations do not require that the salary be listed in the ad, but still denied the case based on the competitive salary language.
BALCA did not agree with the DOL argument concluding that “Potential applicants are unburdened since they are under no obligation to identify a competitive wage before they apply. As to making an informed decision, the competitive salary language is certainly more informative than an advertisement that is totally silent regarding the wage, an approach perfectly permissible under the regulation.”
Based on the BALCA ruling, the DOL has suspended issuing denials based on ads that do not list the salary, but state competitive salary or related language.
