As of August 1, 2026, 16 states plus Washington, D.C. will have statewide pay transparency laws in effect that require employers to disclose what a job pays, including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington. This number is only growing, as Delaware’s pay transparency law takes effect September 26, 2027. The District of Columbia has a similar law, as do a number of local jurisdictions, including Jersey City, New Jersey; Albany County, Westchester County, Ithaca, and New York City, New York; and Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, and Toledo, Ohio, even though Ohio does not have a statewide law.

The substance of these laws varies considerably. California, Colorado, and New York require a pay range in essentially every job posting, while other states only require disclosure after an interview, upon request, or at the point of hire. Some states — including Colorado, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Washington — require disclosure of both base pay as well as benefits or other compensation components.

Whether an employer is covered under these laws may depend on the number of employees it has in the state, such as New York, which requires only four employees, or Hawaii, which requires 50 employees. Or the state law may cover “all employers” such as Colorado, Connecticut, Nevada, and Rhode Island. Many of these laws also reach remote postings tied to the state, meaning an employer’s obligations can turn on where a remote employee resides rather than where the company is headquartered.

Local jurisdictions add another layer of complexity to an employer’s job posting analysis. For example, cities such as Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, and Toledo have adopted their own pay transparency ordinances even though Ohio has no statewide law. And even though the state of New York does have a statewide law, New York City, Ithaca, and Albany County have additional laws to consider.

Enforcement approaches differ as well. States use enforcement mechanisms ranging from state agency investigations to enforcement actions by the attorney general to private rights of action for aggrieved persons.

Virginia and Maine are the newest states to join this movement. Together, the two laws illustrate the variation employers must track across this rapidly expanding patchwork and how much more complicated compliance becomes for organizations with multistate and/or remote workforces.

Overview of Virginia Law

Virginia’s pay transparency and salary history law took effect July 1, 2026. It applies to virtually every Virginia employer, as there is no minimum headcount, and requires that the wage, salary, or “wage or salary range” be disclosed in every public and internal posting for a job, promotion, transfer, or similar opportunity. That range must be a good faith estimate tied to an actual pay scale, a previously used range for the position, the actual range paid to employees currently in equivalent roles, or the amount budgeted for the position. The law also bars employers from asking about or relying on a candidate’s salary history when setting pay, with one narrow exception: Employers may rely on voluntarily disclosed history, but only to justify a higher offer. The statute does not require disclosure of benefits or other compensation in postings, and it prohibits retaliation against anyone who declines to provide salary history or who requests a wage or salary range.

To enforce the law, Virginia’s attorney general may bring a civil action against an employer and pursue penalties of up to $1,000 for a first violation and up to $5,000 for each subsequent violation. The law also creates a private right of action, allowing an aggrieved applicant or employee to sue within one year of a violation for actual damages and any other relief the court deems appropriate. However, before an individual can file suit over a noncompliant posting, the employer must be given notice and an opportunity to cure the posting. Anyone may send a written notice that required pay information is missing, and if the employer corrects the posting within 15 business days across all original posting locations, then no lawsuit may proceed on that particular defect. That right to cure, however, does not extend to salary history violations. Virginia now joins Washington as one of the states allowing a private right of action for job posting violations — a model that has already prompted a wave of class action litigation against employers in Washington.

Overview of Maine Law

Maine’s law, effective July 29, 2026, applies to employers with 10 or more employees. Every job posting must state the prospective pay range a successful applicant could expect or, for commission-only positions, state that compensation for the position is based solely on commission.

The law defines a “posting” broadly to cover any solicitation to recruit applicants for a specific position, whether the recruiting is by the employer or through a third party. A “range of pay” is the range the employer anticipates relying on when setting wages, which may reference a pay scale, a previously determined range, the actual range paid for equivalent positions, or the position’s budgeted amount. Like Virginia’s law, Maine’s does not require employers to disclose benefits information in job postings.

The more consequential obligation, however, extends beyond hiring: Current employees can request — and must receive — the pay range for the position they already hold. That single requirement raises the stakes considerably. Setting a defensible range for one open job requires thinking through a single role, while responding to a pay-range request from current employees may be overwhelming. For employers whose pay structures are not well organized and defensible, there is real potential for liability. Maine pairs this obligation with a recordkeeping mandate, requiring employers to retain records of each position an employee has held and the corresponding pay history for three years after termination. Unlike Virginia, Maine’s law does not specify private remedies or penalties; enforcement is left to the state Department of Labor.

For employers wishing for a federal law that would preempt all of these state laws, there have been efforts along those lines. In 2023, Congress introduced the Salary Transparency Act that, if enacted, would impose a uniform nationwide standard, but the legislation has not advanced, leaving the state-by-state patchwork intact for now.

Employer Takeaways

With these developments in mind, here are practical steps employers can take to reduce compliance risk:

• Confirm which states’ pay transparency and salary history laws apply to your job postings.
• Review how your pay ranges are set and documented.
• Update interview and hiring protocols to eliminate salary history questions in states with bans, and train recruiters and hiring managers on the narrow exceptions that still permit relying on voluntarily disclosed history.
• Track your remote workforce carefully, since pay transparency obligations frequently follow the employee’s physical location or the state to which the role reports, not just your company’s headquarters.

Bradley’s Labor & Employment Practice Group routinely advises employers on wage and hour issues, and assists with compliance with pay transparency requirements. Employers with questions about these laws should consult experienced counsel with respect to drafting or modifying job postings and interview training materials.