Hawaii Pay Transparency Law: Pay Ranges, History Ban, Equal Pay

Hawaii’s pay transparency law, enacted as Act 203, requires employers with 50 or more employees to include the hourly rate or salary range in every external job listing. The rule took effect on January 1, 2024, and sits alongside two related protections: a salary history ban in place since 2019 and an equal pay standard that covers workers doing substantially similar work.¹

Which Employers Are Covered

The disclosure requirement applies to any employer with at least 50 employees. The Hawaii Civil Rights Commission has said the law does not specify that those employees be located in Hawaii, nor that they be full-time.² Part-time, temporary, and seasonal workers all count toward the threshold. A mainland company with 50 total employees advertising a remote role that could be filled from Hawaii falls within the law’s reach.

Employers with fewer than 50 employees have no legal obligation to post pay ranges, though nothing stops them from doing so.

What Must Appear in a Job Listing

Every covered employer must include the hourly rate or salary range in external job listings, and the range must reasonably reflect the actual compensation the employer expects to pay.² A spread wide enough to tell applicants nothing useful does not comply. If the plan is to pay between $55,000 and $70,000, both numbers belong in the posting.

The requirement covers any public-facing recruitment announcement, whether on a job board, a company careers page, or social media. Linking out to a separate benefits page is not enough. The base pay figure itself has to be visible in the listing.

Postings That Don’t Require a Range

Some listings fall outside the disclosure rule:

Positions posted only to current employees for internal transfer or promotion.²
Public-sector positions where salary, benefits, and other compensation are set through a collective bargaining agreement.²
Jobs posted by employers with fewer than 50 employees.¹

The Salary History Ban

Hawaii has prohibited employers from asking applicants about prior pay since 2019 under HRS 378-2.4. Employers, employment agencies, and their agents cannot inquire about an applicant’s salary history or search public records to find it. The ban applies to prospective employees, not to internal transfers or promotions.

One exception exists. If a candidate voluntarily discloses salary history without being prompted, the employer may consider that information when setting compensation. Interview questions designed to steer a candidate toward disclosure would undermine the rule. Employers can still ask about a candidate’s compensation expectations and share the pay range for the position on offer.

Equal Pay for Substantially Similar Work

Act 203 also rewrote Hawaii’s equal pay standard. Under HRS 378-2.3, employers cannot pay workers differently based on a protected category when those workers perform substantially similar work requiring equal skill, effort, and responsibility under similar conditions.³ The old standard asked whether two jobs were “equal.” The current one asks whether they are substantially similar, which closes the gap that let employers justify pay differences by pointing to minor differences in job titles or descriptions.

The protection covers every category included in Hawaii’s employment discrimination laws, including race, sex, religion, sexual orientation, and disability. Earlier versions of the state’s equal pay law focused primarily on gender-based wage gaps; the current standard is broader.

How Employers Can Justify Pay Differences

When two employees do substantially similar work but earn different pay, the burden is on the employer to explain why. Hawaii law recognizes five legitimate categories: a seniority system, a merit system, a system that measures earnings by quantity or quality of production, a bona fide occupational qualification, or another job-related factor unconnected to a protected category.³ The differential has to be job-related and consistent with business necessity. Vague references to “market conditions” or “how the negotiation went” without documentation are the kinds of explanations that fail under scrutiny.

Talking About Pay at Work

HRS 378-2.3 protects employees who discuss wages. An employer cannot punish you for disclosing your own pay, asking a coworker about theirs, or encouraging colleagues to assert their equal pay rights.³ A workplace policy that bars salary discussions, written or unwritten, conflicts with this provision. Retaliation for wage discussions is enforceable the same way as other discrimination claims under Chapter 378.

Filing a Complaint

Complaints about pay transparency or equal pay violations go to the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission. You have 180 days from the date of the violation, or from the last incident in an ongoing pattern, to file.⁴ Missing that window can bar the state-level claim entirely.

If a violation is found, the HCRC or a court may order back pay reaching up to two years before the filing date, reinstatement or hiring, and other equitable relief. A court in a civil lawsuit must also award reasonable attorney’s fees and costs to the prevailing employee.⁵ The commission can also issue a right-to-sue letter, letting a complainant take the case directly to circuit court.⁶

Sex-based wage claims can also be filed under the federal Equal Pay Act, which allows a lawsuit without a prior agency charge. The federal deadline is two years from the last discriminatory paycheck, or three years if the violation was willful.⁷ Each track has its own clock.

1
Hawai’i Civil Rights Commission. Act 203 Pay Transparency and Equal Pay
2
Hawai’i Civil Rights Commission. Act 203 Pay Transparency FAQs
3
Justia Law. Hawaii Revised Statutes 378-2.3 – Equal Pay
4
Hawai’i Civil Rights Commission. FAQs – Hawaii Civil Rights Commission
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Justia Law. Hawaii Revised Statutes 378-5 – Remedies
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Hawai’i Civil Rights Commission. Hawaii Civil Rights Commission
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U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Time Limits for Filing a Charge