Washington pay transparency law: the job posting and salary range rules
Washington asks for less than Colorado in the posting and punishes you harder for getting it wrong. Employers with 15 or more employees must publish a wage scale or salary range plus a description of benefits and other compensation. A single noncompliant posting can generate statutory damages for every person who applied to it, which is why the state produced a wave of class actions that other states did not.
Since July 2025 there is a five business day cure period that materially changes the risk, and it expires on July 27, 2027. This page covers coverage, the disclosures, remote roles, the cure window, and what applicants can recover. Build a defensible range on the right.
Last updated July 2026 / General information, not legal advice
- P25
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- P50 · Median
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- P75
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Suggested posted range
Sample benchmarks derived from public wage data (U.S. BLS OES, May 2024). Early-access customers get live, methodology-documented benchmarks.
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Washington pay transparency, in one table
| Obligation | Who it covers | What you must do | Exposure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wage scale or salary range in postings | 15 or more employees, with at least one based in Washington | Publish the range, or the fixed amount if you are offering only one figure. No open-ended ranges. | $100 to $5,000 per violation, per applicant |
| Benefits and other compensation | Same | A general description of all benefits and other compensation offered to the hired applicant. | $100 to $5,000 per violation, per applicant |
| Internal transfers and promotions | Same | On request from an employee offered an internal transfer or promotion, provide the range or fixed amount. | Actual damages, reinstatement, injunctive relief |
| Civil penalty | Same | Assessed by L&I in addition to statutory damages and investigation costs. | Up to $500 first violation, up to $1,000 repeat |
| Cure period | Postings from July 27, 2025 to July 27, 2027 | Correct within five business days of written notice and demand correction from third-party boards. | No penalties or damages if cured in time |
Sources: Washington Equal Pay and Opportunities Act, RCW 49.58.110, as amended by SB 5408 (Laws of 2025, ch. 383, effective July 27, 2025); Washington L&I Administrative Policy ES.E.2, Job Posting Requirements, issued December 3, 2025. Summarized for planning, not as legal advice.
The 15-employee rule counts your whole company
RCW 49.58.110 applies to employers with 15 or more employees. The trap is in how you count them. Washington's guidance is explicit that the threshold includes employees with no physical presence in Washington, as long as the employer has at least one Washington-based employee.
So the test is two parts, and both are easy to fail by accident. Do you have at least one Washington-based employee? And do you have 15 or more employees anywhere in the world? A Chicago company with 40 staff and one remote engineer in Spokane is covered. The 39 people in Illinois all count toward the 15.
Coverage also reaches employers with no physical presence in the state at all. Engaging in business in Washington includes recruiting for jobs that could be filled by a Washington-based employee. You do not need an office, an entity, or a single current Washington hire to be recruiting into the state.
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California uses the same 15-employee threshold. Colorado has none at all: one employee in the state is enough. If you hire remotely across the western US, assume you are inside all three regimes and build one posting template that satisfies the strictest of them, which is Colorado.
What a compliant Washington posting contains
Two disclosures, which is simpler than Colorado's five. The detail sits in what counts as a posting and what counts as a range.
01
Wage scale or salary range
The range you most reasonably and genuinely expect to pay, established before you publish. If you are offering only one fixed figure, disclose that figure instead of a range.
02
Benefits and other compensation
A general description of all benefits and other compensation offered to the hired applicant. Itemize insurance types, retirement plan types, PTO in days or hours, paid holidays, and sick leave only where you are more generous than the legal minimum.
Not allowed
Open-ended ranges
"$60,000 and up" and "up to $29.00 per hour" are both noncompliant. If you advertise a starting range, you must also list the entire scale. A posting covering several levels needs a range for each level.
What counts as a posting
A posting is any solicitation intended to recruit applicants for a specific available position, direct or through a third party, electronic or hard copy, that includes qualifications for desired applicants. Both halves have to be present.
That definition does real work. A "Help Wanted" sign, a "Hiring Now, All Positions" banner and a generic social post are not postings, because they name no specific position. SB 5408 also excluded solicitations that were digitally replicated and published without the employer's consent, which closed off claims based on scraper sites republishing your ad without the range.
You may hyperlink to the detailed benefits and other compensation descriptions. You remain responsible for the link working and staying current, including when a third-party administrator controls the page behind it.
Remote roles
The same answer as Colorado, in nearly the same words. Washington guidance says an employer cannot avoid the disclosure requirements by indicating within a posting that it will not accept Washington applicants. If a Washington-based employee could perform the remote job, the posting needs the disclosures.
The exception is jobs performed entirely outside Washington, tied to a worksite physically located outside the state, and the state says it must be applied narrowly and case by case. Printed postings made and distributed entirely outside Washington are also exempt. An online ad is not.
One useful limit: a person is only an applicant for the specific postings they applied to, not for every open job you have.
Five business days, and it expires July 27, 2027
This is the most important thing on the page, and it is temporary. SB 5408 took effect July 27, 2025 and added a cure period that applies to postings from that date through July 27, 2027. After that, Washington reverts to strict liability.
01
Anyone can trigger it
Any person may give written notice that a posting does not comply. Not just an applicant. Not just someone who wants the job.
02
One notice covers the posting
Notice about a particular posting is adequate notice for the duration of that posting, for every applicant seeking remedies. It protects you broadly, and it starts the clock for everyone at once.
03
Five business days, both steps
Correct the posting and, where applicable, demand that the third-party posting entity correct theirs. Business days, not calendar days. Do only one of the two and you have not cured.
04
Then nothing is owed
If you cure in time, neither the department nor a court may assess or award penalties, damages or other relief for that violation. It is a complete defense, not a discount.
Two practical consequences. First, someone in your company has to actually receive and act on that written notice inside five business days, which means it cannot sit in a shared inbox nobody owns. Second, this window closes on July 27, 2027. Any compliance plan that quietly depends on being able to fix postings after a complaint has an expiry date on it.
Why Washington produced class actions
Washington gives applicants a private right of action with statutory damages of no less than $100 and no more than $5,000 per violation, plus reasonable attorneys' fees and costs, with a three-year limitations period. The department can separately order the same statutory damages to each affected applicant, plus its costs of investigation and a civil penalty of up to $500 for a first violation or $1,000 for a repeat. A plaintiff can recover administratively or in court, but not both.
In September 2025, the Washington Supreme Court decided Branson v. Washington Fine Wine & Spirits. The certified question was whether a plaintiff has to be a genuine job seeker. The court held that a plaintiff must apply to a specific job posting but is not required to prove they are a bona fide or good faith applicant. The legislature had used qualifying language elsewhere in the statute and omitted it here, so the court applied the text as written and noted the legislature could amend it if it wanted a narrower rule.
Put the two together and the arithmetic is obvious. One noncompliant posting, several hundred applicants, $100 to $5,000 each, and no requirement that any of them wanted the job. That is the structure that generated Washington's litigation wave, and it is why the cure period exists.
Colorado vs Washington
Colorado is stricter on breadth: one-employee coverage, five disclosures, a close date, notices before and after the hire. Washington is far riskier on damages.
Colorado counts one job opening as one violation regardless of how many boards carried it, and says explicitly that each person responding is not a separate violation. The fine runs $500 to $10,000 and only the state can bring it.
Washington multiplies per applicant and hands the claim to private plaintiffs with a fee award attached. Same mistake, very different bill.
The defensive move is not clever drafting, it is having a real range before the posting goes up. The job posting salary ranges guide covers turning a band into a publishable number, and salary bands covers the structure underneath it. If you post the same remote role into several states, geographic pay differentials is where the range gets wide enough to stop being genuine.
Washington pay transparency questions
Does Washington require salary ranges in job postings?
Yes. Employers with 15 or more employees must disclose the wage scale or salary range in every posting, or the fixed wage amount if only one figure is on offer, plus a general description of all benefits and other compensation for the hired applicant. Open-ended ranges like "$80,000 and up" do not comply.
How many employees do you need for Washington pay transparency to apply?
Fifteen or more, counted across your whole company including people with no physical presence in Washington, provided you have at least one Washington-based employee. An out-of-state company with 40 staff and a single remote worker in Seattle is covered.
What is the Washington cure period for a bad job posting?
For postings from July 27, 2025 through July 27, 2027, any person may send written notice that a posting is noncompliant. Correct it within five business days, and demand correction from any third-party board carrying it, and no penalties or damages may be assessed for that violation. The window expires after July 27, 2027.
What are the penalties for a noncompliant job posting in Washington?
Statutory damages of $100 to $5,000 per violation to each affected applicant or employee, plus L&I's investigation costs and a civil penalty of up to $500 for a first violation or $1,000 for a repeat. Applicants can also sue directly and recover the same statutory damages plus attorneys' fees.
Can you exclude Washington from a remote job posting?
No. State guidance says an employer cannot avoid the disclosure requirements by stating in a posting that it will not accept Washington applicants. If a Washington-based employee could perform the remote role, the disclosures apply. Only jobs tied to a worksite entirely outside the state are excepted, and narrowly.
Does an applicant have to actually want the job to sue?
No. In Branson v. Washington Fine Wine & Spirits, decided September 4, 2025, the Washington Supreme Court held that a plaintiff must apply to a specific posting but need not prove they are a bona fide or good faith applicant. Applying to the noncompliant posting is enough to seek statutory damages.
Keep going
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Colorado pay transparency law
Broader obligations, no cure period, and the post-selection notice nobody else requires.
California pay transparency law
The same 15-employee threshold, the good faith estimate standard, and pay data reporting.
Pay transparency laws by state
Every US state disclosure rule in one comparison table.
How to create salary bands
The seven-step process behind every range you post.
Pricing
Early-access pricing for teams doing this without a comp analyst.