California Pay Transparency Law: Postings, Pay Range, and Penalties

California’s pay transparency law requires employers with 15 or more employees to include a pay scale in every job posting, bars every California employer from asking job applicants about their salary history, and lets applicants and current employees request the pay range for a position. The rules sit in Labor Code Section 432.3 and Government Code Section 12999, took effect on January 1, 2023, and carry civil penalties from $100 to $10,000 per violation.¹

Which Employers the Law Covers

The requirements scale with headcount. Any employer with 15 or more employees must put a pay scale in every job posting, internal or external.¹ The headcount includes anyone performing work in California, so an out-of-state company with a handful of remote California workers can still be covered.

Employers with 100 or more employees have a separate obligation to file an annual pay data report with the California Civil Rights Department, and employers that use 100 or more workers supplied through labor contractors must file a report covering those workers as well.²

Two rules apply to every employer regardless of size: the ban on asking about or relying on an applicant’s salary history, and the requirement to provide pay scale information to a current employee who asks for it.¹

What Must Appear in a Job Posting

Pay scale means the salary or hourly wage range the employer reasonably expects to pay for the role. An employer that pays a fixed hourly rate or piece rate rather than a range can list that set amount.³

The posted range has to reflect genuine compensation expectations. Something like “$30,000 to $300,000” posted to technically comply while revealing nothing is exactly the sort of open-ended range that invites enforcement scrutiny. Regulators look at whether the posted band matches what the employer actually pays people in the role, and hiring consistently at the top or bottom of a wide band can undermine any good-faith defense.

When an employer with 15 or more employees uses a recruiting agency, staffing firm, or job board, the employer must give that third party the pay scale, and the third party must include it in the posting.¹ Responsibility stays with the employer. A recruiter leaving the pay scale off a listing does not shift blame away from the company that hired the recruiter.

Remote Jobs and Out-of-State Employers

The posting rule reaches any position that could be performed in California, including remote roles. An out-of-state company advertising a remote job that a California resident could fill must include the pay scale.³ Many national employers get caught here assuming the law only touches jobs physically located in the state.

The Salary History Ban

No California employer may ask a job applicant about prior compensation, whether in conversation, on an application, or through a recruiter. Employers also cannot rely on an applicant’s salary history to decide whether to extend an offer or to set the pay for that offer.¹ The only carve-out involves salary information that is already publicly available under the California Public Records Act or the federal Freedom of Information Act, such as a government employee’s disclosed salary.³

The point is to break the pattern where being underpaid in one job anchors pay in the next. If a prospective employer asks what you earned at your last position, the question itself is a violation.

Your Right to Ask for the Pay Range

Applicants can request the pay scale for the position they are applying for, and the employer must provide it on reasonable request. The right exists regardless of employer size, so companies with fewer than 15 employees still have to share the information when asked, even though they are not required to post it.¹

Current employees have a parallel right to request the pay scale for their own position. Every employer in California must respond, with no minimum headcount. There is no required format; you can ask verbally or in writing.¹

That right has real practical use. If the posted range for your position is $70,000 to $90,000 and you earn $65,000, you have concrete leverage for a conversation with your manager, and evidence to support a complaint if the gap stems from discrimination.

Protection From Retaliation for Discussing Pay

Labor Code Section 232 bars employers from retaliating against workers who disclose their own wages and prohibits any agreement that requires workers to keep their pay confidential.⁴

The California Equal Pay Act (Labor Code Section 1197.5) extends that protection. Employers cannot retaliate against workers who disclose their own wages, discuss a coworker’s wages, ask about another employee’s wages, or help other employees exercise their rights under the Equal Pay Act. If an employer takes adverse action within 90 days of any of those protected activities, the law creates a rebuttable presumption of retaliation, which shifts the burden to the employer to prove a legitimate, non-retaliatory reason for the action.⁴

Federal law backs this up. The National Labor Relations Act protects employees’ right to discuss wages as part of “protected concerted activity,” so employer policies that forbid or discourage pay discussion among coworkers are likely unlawful under federal law as well.⁵

Penalties for Employers

For violations of the pay scale and salary history rules, including failing to post a scale, refusing to provide one on request, or asking about salary history, the Labor Commissioner can assess civil penalties between $100 and $10,000 per violation. The amount depends on the totality of the circumstances, including whether the employer has violated the section before.¹

There is one safe harbor. For a first violation of the posting requirement, the Labor Commissioner will not assess a penalty if the employer shows that all job postings for open positions have been updated to include the required pay scale. That grace disappears after the first offense.¹

Employers that fail to file the annual pay data report face a separate scheme. A court can impose up to $100 per employee for a first failure and up to $200 per employee for subsequent failures, and the Civil Rights Department can seek a court order compelling compliance and recover its costs.²

How to File a Complaint or Sue

Anyone who believes an employer violated Section 432.3 can file a written complaint with the Labor Commissioner’s Office within one year of learning about the violation.¹ The office provides a pay transparency complaint form for this purpose.⁶

The law also gives you a private right of action. An aggrieved person can file a civil lawsuit for injunctive relief and any other relief the court considers appropriate, without first going through the Labor Commissioner.¹ Applicants and employees are not stuck waiting for a government investigation; they can go straight to court.

1
California Legislative Information. California Labor Code 432.3
2
California Legislative Information. California Code Government Code 12999
3
California Department of Industrial Relations. California Equal Pay Act
4
California Department of Industrial Relations. Laws that Prohibit Retaliation and Discrimination
5
U.S. Department of Labor. Employee Rights Under the National Labor Relations Act
6
Department of Industrial Relations. Pay Transparency Complaint