When You Have to Post a Salary Range

When you have to post a salary range (and where)

There's no federal pay-transparency law. But 13 states plus DC already have pay-transparency laws — including California, Colorado, Washington, New York, Massachusetts, Illinois, and Maryland. Maine and Virginia take effect in 2026, and Delaware follows in 2027. Seven cities (NYC, Jersey City, several Ohio cities) layer on top. The rule follows where your applicants could work, not where your business is. A remote role posted anywhere can attract every covered state's law if a resident there could apply.

Washington has run the surface test. Over 300 class-action lawsuits since June 2024 for postings missing a range, with $100–$5,000 in damages per applicant. After a 2025 state supreme-court ruling, the applicant doesn't have to apply in good faith — exposure scales with click-throughs, not hires. NYC can fine up to $250,000 per uncorrected violation; California requires the range you reasonably expect to pay the actual hire — not a wide range that covers everyone from entry to senior.

How to post without triggering a class action

• List which of your job postings could be picked up by a covered-state resident.
• Post a tight, defensible salary range on every posting that could attract one.
• Extend the same range to every recruiter, LinkedIn, Indeed, or staffing-agency posting.
• For California, post the range you expect to pay the actual hire — not the full entry-to-senior range.
• In Massachusetts, New York, and Virginia, post ranges on internal promotion and transfer notices too.

How small posting decisions become class actions

• A Texas employer posting a remote engineer role on LinkedIn without a range — every Washington click is a potential plaintiff.
• Posting $50,000–$200,000 for one engineering role to "cover the range" — state agencies treat that as a missing-range violation.
• Your recruiter posts the role on Indeed without the range — you're liable, not the recruiter.
• Promoting an internal candidate in Massachusetts without posting the range — same penalty as a missing external posting.

Post one range, everywhere, every platform

For multi-state employers, post one defensible salary range on every job posting, every platform, including internal promotions — even in states without a pay-transparency law. The marginal effort is a tighter posting template; the avoided cost is the $100–$5,000-per-applicant penalty for any covered-state resident who clicks through.