Pay transparency laws now affect employers in eight states plus dozens of cities, requiring salary range disclosures in job postings and transparency about internal pay scales. Without compliant policies, businesses face penalties up to $10,000 per violation and reputational damage from public enforcement actions.
This pay transparency policy builder guide explains what policies must include, how requirements vary by jurisdiction, and how policy builders ensure compliance across all locations where you hire.
Why Pay Transparency Laws Are Expanding Rapidly
Pay transparency legislation aims to reduce wage discrimination by forcing employers to disclose salary information upfront. The movement gained momentum in 2021 with Colorado’s groundbreaking law and has since spread rapidly across the country.
As of 2026, eight states have enacted comprehensive pay transparency laws: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland, Nevada, New York, Rhode Island, and Washington. Additional cities including New York City, Jersey City, Cincinnati, and Toledo have local ordinances with varying requirements.
The trend continues accelerating. Multiple states have proposed legislation, and existing laws are expanding in scope. California’s law, which took effect in 2023, now applies to employers with just 15 employees. New York covers employers with as few as four employees. These low thresholds mean even small businesses must comply.
Violations carry significant penalties. New York fines range from $1,000 to $3,000 per violation—and each job posting potentially constitutes a separate violation. California penalties reach $100-$10,000 per violation. Public enforcement creates additional risk as media coverage of violations damages employer brands and recruiting efforts.
The patchwork of state and local laws creates compliance complexity for any employer hiring across multiple jurisdictions. A remote job posting visible nationwide must comply with the strictest applicable law, meaning employers often need to satisfy California or New York requirements even if headquartered elsewhere.
What Pay Transparency Policies Must Include
Job posting disclosures
Pay transparency laws require employers to include salary or wage information in job advertisements. Your policy must specify what disclosures are required and when.
- Salary range requirements: Most laws require both minimum and maximum salary or hourly wage for the position. The range must be the actual range the employer reasonably expects to pay, not a artificially wide range designed to avoid meaningful disclosure. California explicitly prohibits ranges spanning from minimum wage to executive compensation.
- What counts as compensation: Salary range requirements typically apply only to base pay, excluding bonuses, commissions, equity, and benefits. However, some jurisdictions require separate disclosure of incentive compensation or benefits descriptions. Your policy should clarify which elements must be disclosed.
- Application trigger: Laws vary on when disclosure is required. Some apply to all job postings regardless of format (Colorado, Washington). Others apply only to postings that could be performed in the state, including remote positions (California, New York). Your policy must identify which jobs require transparency based on work location.
- Posting channels covered: Requirements generally apply to all external job advertisements including company websites and career pages, third-party job boards (Indeed, LinkedIn, Glassdoor), recruitment agency postings, social media recruitment posts, and print advertisements. Some laws extend to internal promotion and transfer postings.
Promotion and transfer rules
Several pay transparency laws extend beyond external hiring to internal opportunities:
- Internal promotion postings: California, Colorado, and Washington require salary ranges when posting internal promotion opportunities. This ensures current employees have the same transparency as external candidates.
- Transfer opportunities: When employees apply for lateral transfers or different roles, pay transparency laws may require disclosing the compensation range for the new position.
- Pay scale requests: Some states give employees the right to request pay scales for their own positions. California requires employers to provide pay scales upon request. Colorado requires disclosure of the job opportunity’s pay range upon request.
- Timing requirements: Your policy should specify when ranges must be disclosed—at the time of posting, before discussing compensation, or upon request—depending on jurisdiction requirements.
Recordkeeping requirements
Pay transparency compliance extends beyond disclosure to documentation:
- Job description records: Maintain documentation of each position’s duties, requirements, and assigned pay range. This proves the disclosed range was the actual range for the role.
- Compensation decision documentation: Document the rationale for where within the disclosed range each hire’s compensation was set. This defends against claims of discriminatory pay within compliant ranges.
- Posting compliance records: Preserve copies of all job postings with salary disclosures, demonstrating compliance if challenged. Track posting dates, channels used, and jurisdictions covered.
- Pay scale communications: Document when pay scales were provided to employees upon request, including what was disclosed and when.
- Retention periods: State laws vary, but maintaining records for at least four years aligns with most wage and hour record retention requirements.
How Pay Transparency Laws Differ by State
State-by-state variations create significant compliance complexity:
- Employer size thresholds: California covers employers with 15+ employees. New York covers those with 4+ employees. Colorado applies to all employers with at least one Colorado employee. Connecticut requires 1+ employees. Your policy must identify which thresholds you meet in each state.
- Geographic scope: California’s law applies to positions that “could be performed in California,” broadly interpreted to include remote jobs available to California applicants. New York’s law covers jobs that “will or can be performed” in New York. Some states like Washington apply only to positions physically located in the state.
- What must be disclosed: Most states require salary ranges (minimum to maximum). Colorado also requires general benefits descriptions. Some cities require benefits summaries. Nevada requires ranges only upon request, not in initial postings. Connecticut’s requirements differ for promotions versus external hires.
- Internal vs. external postings: California, Colorado, and Washington require ranges for internal promotion opportunities. Other states focus primarily on external hiring. Your policy must address both contexts.
- Penalties for violations: California assesses $100-$10,000 per violation with escalating penalties for repeat violations. New York ranges $1,000-$3,000 per posting. Some jurisdictions allow private rights of action where employees can sue directly.
- Remote work implications: Most laws apply to remote positions available to state residents, even if the employer has no physical presence in the state. A Texas employer posting remote jobs must comply with California and New York laws if applicants from those states can apply.
Multi-state employers cannot use a single approach—each jurisdiction’s specific requirements must be addressed.
Common Pay Transparency Compliance Failures
Posting jobs without required salary ranges
The most common violation is simply omitting salary information from job postings in states requiring disclosure. This happens when employers forget which states have requirements, use old posting templates without updates, or post through channels that don’t include compensation fields.
Using excessively wide salary ranges
Some employers attempt to comply by posting ranges like “$50,000-$250,000” that span from entry-level to executive compensation. California and other states prohibit artificially wide ranges that don’t reflect the actual expected compensation for the role. Regulators view this as circumventing the law’s purpose.
Failing to update internal job postings
Employers complying with external posting requirements sometimes forget that California, Colorado, and Washington also require salary ranges for internal promotion opportunities. Every internal job posting in these states needs compensation disclosure.
Restricting remote jobs to avoid compliance
Some employers attempt to exclude applicants from pay transparency states to avoid disclosure requirements. This creates recruiting disadvantages and may violate discrimination laws if applied inconsistently. Better to comply than artificially restrict candidate pools.
Inadequate recordkeeping
Failing to preserve documentation of job postings, disclosed ranges, and compensation decisions prevents employers from defending their compliance if challenged. Without records, employers can’t prove they disclosed ranges or explain why particular candidates received specific offers within posted ranges.
Not training hiring managers
Compliance failures often stem from hiring managers who don’t understand pay transparency requirements. They post jobs without ranges, discuss compensation before disclosure, or communicate ranges verbally without documentation. Managers need training on when disclosure is required and proper procedures.
How a Pay Transparency Policy Builder Works
Modern policy builders streamline pay transparency compliance through guided processes:
Step 1: Jurisdiction Analysis – The platform asks where your company is headquartered, which states you currently employ workers in, which states you’re recruiting in or willing to hire remote workers from, and whether you post jobs on national platforms accessible to all states.
Step 2: Threshold Assessment – Based on your employee count and locations, the builder determines which state laws apply to your business and which employer size thresholds you meet or exceed.
Step 3: Requirement Mapping – The system identifies which job postings require salary disclosures (external, internal, or both), what compensation elements must be disclosed (base salary, bonuses, benefits), when disclosure is required (in posting, upon request, before offer), and what recordkeeping you must maintain.
Step 4: Policy Customization – You input your compensation philosophy and pay range methodology, procedures for determining disclosed ranges, approval processes for job postings, training requirements for hiring managers, and recordkeeping procedures.
Step 5: Multi-Jurisdiction Policy Generation – The builder creates a comprehensive policy addressing all applicable state requirements, procedures for external and internal postings, recordkeeping and documentation requirements, and training and enforcement provisions.
Step 6: Ongoing Monitoring – The platform tracks new pay transparency legislation, notifies you when new laws affect your locations, and updates your policy automatically when requirements change.
What to Look For in a State-Aware Builder
- Automatic jurisdiction detection: The best policy builders identify which pay transparency laws apply based on your hiring locations and employee count. The platform should know state employer size thresholds, determine whether you meet them, and flag when you’re approaching thresholds that trigger new obligations.
- Multi-state compliance logic: The builder must understand that different states require different disclosures, some states cover internal postings while others don’t, remote job rules vary by jurisdiction, and penalties differ significantly across states. One-size-fits-all policies don’t work.
- Practical implementation guidance: Beyond policy language, the platform should provide job posting templates with compensation fields, hiring manager training materials, recordkeeping checklists, and compliance verification procedures.
- Integration with job posting workflows: The most effective builders connect to applicant tracking systems (ATS), job posting templates, and approval workflows—ensuring compliance happens automatically rather than relying on manual checks.
- Automatic updates for new laws: Pay transparency legislation evolves rapidly. Your policy builder should monitor legal developments across all 50 states and major cities, notify you immediately when new laws affect your hiring locations, and update your policy automatically to reflect new requirements.
- Violation risk assessment: Advanced builders can analyze your current job postings for compliance gaps, flag positions missing required disclosures, and identify jurisdictions where you’re at risk.
Why SixFifty Simplifies Pay Transparency Compliance
SixFifty’s pay transparency policy builder eliminates multi-jurisdictional complexity:
- Intelligent jurisdiction mapping automatically determines which state and local pay transparency laws apply to your business based on hiring locations, employee count, and posting channels.
- State-specific policy provisions addressing each jurisdiction’s unique requirements for external vs. internal postings, salary vs. benefits disclosure, posting vs. request-based transparency, and recordkeeping obligations.
- Practical compliance tools including job posting templates with compliant compensation disclosure fields, hiring manager training materials and checklists, recordkeeping systems for maintaining required documentation, and compliance verification workflows.
- Continuous legal monitoring tracking pay transparency legislation across all states and cities, automatic policy updates when new laws take effect, and proactive alerts about approaching employer size thresholds.
- Multi-state hiring support for businesses recruiting across state lines or posting remote positions, with clear guidance on which requirements apply to each job.
Unlike generic templates or manual policy drafting, SixFifty provides comprehensive pay transparency compliance that adapts automatically as laws change and your business expands.
FAQs About Pay Transparency Policies
Do pay transparency laws apply to remote jobs?
Yes, most pay transparency laws apply to remote positions that could be performed by residents of the state. If you post a remote job that California or New York applicants can apply for, those states’ transparency requirements apply—even if your company is headquartered elsewhere. Some employers either comply with all state requirements for all postings or explicitly restrict applications to certain states.
Can we post wide salary ranges to maintain negotiating flexibility?
No. Pay transparency laws require posting the range the employer reasonably expects to pay—not artificially wide ranges designed to avoid meaningful disclosure. California explicitly prohibits this practice. Regulators can challenge unreasonably wide ranges as violations. Post the actual range you’ve budgeted and are prepared to pay for the role.
What if we don’t know the exact salary when posting?
You’re still required to provide a good-faith range based on your budget, market research, and internal pay equity. Determine the range before posting by researching market rates for the role, considering your compensation philosophy and budget, and evaluating internal pay equity for similar positions. The range should reflect what you’d actually pay successful candidates.
Do penalties apply to every job posting violation?
Yes, each non-compliant job posting can constitute a separate violation. If you post 50 jobs without required salary ranges, you could face penalties for all 50 postings. This is why systematic compliance through policy and process is essential—manual checking doesn’t scale and creates too much violation risk.
How do pay transparency laws affect pay equity?
Pay transparency increases accountability for equitable pay practices. When salary ranges are public, pay disparities become more visible. Employers should audit compensation for equity issues before implementing transparency, document legitimate reasons for pay differences within disclosed ranges, and train managers on making equitable offers within posted ranges. Transparency can actually support equity initiatives by forcing disciplined compensation decisions.
Build a Compliant Pay Transparency Policy Today
Pay transparency compliance is no longer optional in eight states and growing. The complexity of varying state requirements, significant violation penalties, and rapid legal expansion make comprehensive policies essential for any employer hiring across state lines.
SixFifty’s pay transparency policy builder ensures compliant policies across all jurisdictions with automatic state detection, practical implementation guidance, and continuous updates for new laws. Schedule a demo today and build your policy in minutes.
