California Pay Transparency and Equal Pay: Salary Range Rules

California’s salary range law, Labor Code section 432.3, requires employers with 15 or more employees to include a pay scale in every job posting, and requires every employer to give current employees the pay scale for their own position on request. The same law bars employers from asking about your salary history, and California’s Equal Pay Act requires equal pay for substantially similar work regardless of sex, race or ethnicity.

These rules matter because pay gaps compound. A worker underpaid by $4,000 a year compared with a coworker doing substantially similar work loses $12,000 over three years, and under the Equal Pay Act can generally recover that difference plus an equal amount in liquidated damages, interest and attorney’s fees. Amendments that took effect January 1, 2026 also give workers more time to bring these claims.

This guide explains what employers must disclose, the 2026 changes under SB 642, how equal pay claims work, the penalties for violations, and what to do if you suspect you are being paid less than you should be.

What California’s salary range law requires

California’s pay transparency rules come mainly from SB 1162, which took effect January 1, 2023 and expanded Labor Code section 432.3. In plain terms, the law gives you four core rights:

• Pay ranges in job postings. Employers with 15 or more employees must include the pay scale in any job posting, including postings placed through a third party such as a job board or recruiter.
• Your own pay scale on request. Any employer must provide a current employee the pay scale for the position the employee holds, upon request.
• Pay scale for applicants. Upon reasonable request, an employer must give an applicant the pay scale for the position they applied for.
• No salary history questions. Employers may not ask about your prior pay, directly or through an agent, or rely on it in deciding whether to hire you or what to pay you.

Employers must also keep records of each employee’s job title and wage rate history for the length of employment plus three years, and the Labor Commissioner can inspect those records.

Key fact

Pay scales in job postings

A “pay scale” is the salary or hourly wage range the employer expects to pay for the job. Since January 1, 2026, SB 642 defines it more precisely as a good faith estimate of the salary or hourly wage range the employer reasonably expects to pay for the position upon hire. That change targets a common problem: postings with ranges so wide (for example, $50,000 to $250,000) that they told applicants almost nothing.

A few practical points:

• The range must be the employer’s honest estimate of what it expects to pay the person hired, not the full theoretical range for every level of the role.
• For piece-rate or commission jobs, the posting should show the piece rate or commission range the employer reasonably expects to pay.
• Employers who use a recruiter or job board must give the third party the pay scale to include in the ad.
• The law does not require employers to list bonuses, equity or benefits in the posting, though many do.

The Labor Commissioner’s guidance applies the posting rule to employers with at least 15 employees, including at least one employee in California, for positions that may be filled in California or by someone working remotely from California.

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Your right to know your pay scale

You do not have to wait for a job posting. As a current employee, you can ask your employer for the pay scale for your own position, and the employer must provide it. This applies to employers of any size. Asking is protected; an employer may not retaliate against you for making the request.

Applicants have a similar right. If you are applying for a job, you can ask for the pay scale and the employer must provide it upon reasonable request.

How to use this right well:

• Put the request in writing, such as a short email to HR, and keep a copy.
• Ask for the pay scale for your exact job title and location.
• Compare the answer with your actual pay, your pay stubs and what you know about coworkers’ pay. California law also protects your right to disclose your own wages and to discuss and ask about coworkers’ wages (Labor Code 232 and 1197.5(k)).

If you discover that you are paid well below the range, or below coworkers doing similar work, that may be the first sign of an equal pay problem. Your payroll records can help; see our guide to requesting your personnel file and payroll records.

The salary history ban

Since 2018, Labor Code section 432.3 has prohibited California employers from seeking salary history information about applicants, including compensation and benefits, whether they ask themselves or through a recruiter. They also may not rely on salary history as a factor in deciding whether to offer you a job or what salary to offer.

You may choose to share your prior pay voluntarily. If you do, the employer may consider it in setting your pay. But under the Equal Pay Act, prior salary cannot, by itself, justify paying you less than a coworker of another sex, race or ethnicity for substantially similar work (Labor Code 1197.5(a)(3)). That rule exists because relying on past pay tends to carry old pay gaps into new jobs.

Employers can still ask about your expectations. A question like “what salary are you looking for?” is generally lawful; “what did you make at your last job?” is not.

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Equal pay for substantially similar work: Labor Code 1197.5

California’s Equal Pay Act is one of the strongest in the country. An employer may not pay you less than employees of another sex, or of another race or ethnicity, for substantially similar work, viewed as a composite of skill, effort and responsibility, performed under similar working conditions. The jobs do not have to share a title, and the comparison is not limited to the same building.

To justify a difference, the employer must prove it is based on one or more of these factors:

• A seniority system;
• A merit system;
• A system that measures earnings by quantity or quality of production; or
• A bona fide factor other than sex, race or ethnicity, such as education, training or experience, that is job-related and consistent with business necessity.

The employer must also show that each factor was applied reasonably and that the factors account for the entire pay difference. Gaps that the employer cannot explain with those factors are recoverable. Equal pay problems often travel with other forms of workplace discrimination, such as being passed over for promotions or steered into lower-paying assignments.

By the numbers$10,000

What changed in 2026 under SB 642

SB 642 was signed in October 2025 and took effect January 1, 2026. It made several changes that matter to workers:

Issue	Before 2026	Since January 1, 2026
Meaning of “pay scale”	Salary or hourly range the employer reasonably expects to pay	Good faith estimate of the range the employer reasonably expects to pay upon hire
Time to file an Equal Pay Act claim	Generally 2 years (3 if willful)	3 years after the last unlawful pay practice
How far back you can recover	Limited by the shorter filing period	Up to 6 years of underpayment
What counts as “wages”	Not broadly defined	All forms of pay, including bonuses, stock, profit sharing, overtime, vacation and holiday pay, and benefits
Comparison group	“Opposite sex”	“Another sex”

SB 642 also clarifies that a violation can occur each time you are paid under a discriminatory practice, which helps workers whose underpayment continued over many paychecks.

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Penalties and what you can recover

For pay transparency violations, the Labor Commissioner can order a civil penalty of $100 to $10,000 per violation under Labor Code section 432.3. For a first violation of the job posting rule, an employer can avoid a penalty by showing it updated all open postings to include the pay scale. You can file a complaint with the Labor Commissioner within one year after you learned of the violation, and you may also sue for injunctive relief and other relief the court finds appropriate.

For Equal Pay Act violations, you can generally recover the wages you should have been paid, interest, an equal amount as liquidated damages, and attorney’s fees and costs. Retaliating against you for raising pay concerns or discussing wages is a separate violation; see our page on retaliation claims in California.

💡 Example: Rosa earns $4,000 a year less than a male coworker doing substantially similar work, and the employer cannot justify the gap. Over three years, her unpaid wages are $4,000 × 3 = $12,000. With an equal amount in liquidated damages, her claim is worth $24,000 before interest and attorney’s fees.

Larger employers have additional obligations. Under Government Code section 12999, private employers with 100 or more employees must file annual pay data reports with the Civil Rights Department showing pay by job category, sex, race and ethnicity. Recent legislation expands the job categories and increases penalties for repeat filing failures; our guide to new California employment laws for 2027 tracks those changes.

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What to do if you suspect unequal pay

1. Request your pay scale in writing. Ask HR for the pay scale for your current position and save the response.
2. Gather your pay records. Keep pay stubs, offer letters, bonus statements and your W-2s. Request your payroll records and personnel file.
3. Document comparators. Note coworkers who do substantially similar work, their roles and, if they share it voluntarily, their pay. Discussing wages is protected.
4. Save job postings. Screenshot postings for your role or similar roles, including the posted range and date.
5. Raise the issue if you feel safe doing so, in writing, and keep a copy. Retaliation is illegal.
6. Watch the deadline. Equal Pay Act claims now generally must be filed within three years, and a Labor Commissioner pay transparency complaint within one year after you learn of the violation.
7. Talk to an employment lawyer to evaluate the comparison and the employer’s likely defenses.

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Frequently asked questions

Does California’s salary range law apply to every employer?

The job posting requirement applies to employers with 15 or more employees. The duty to give a current employee the pay scale for their position, the applicant request right and the salary history ban apply regardless of size.

Can a job posting list a range of $40,000 to $200,000?

Only if that is truly the employer’s good faith estimate of what it expects to pay the person hired. Since 2026, inflated ranges that don’t reflect real expectations are harder to defend.

Can my employer forbid me from talking about my pay?

No. California law protects your right to disclose your own wages, discuss coworkers’ wages and ask about them, and federal labor law also protects most non-supervisory workers who discuss pay.

Is a pay gap illegal if the other person has a different job title?

It can be. The Equal Pay Act looks at whether the work is substantially similar in skill, effort, responsibility and working conditions, not at job titles.

How far back can I recover unequal pay?

Under SB 642, you generally have three years to file, and you may recover up to six years of underpayment if the discriminatory practice continued over that time.

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