Connecticut Pay Transparency Law: Wage Ranges and Salary History

Under the Connecticut pay transparency law, every employer in the state must share the wage range for a position with job applicants and current employees who ask, cannot ask candidates about their salary history, and cannot punish workers for discussing pay. If your employer breaks any of those rules, you have two years to file a complaint with the Connecticut Department of Labor or sue in court. The rules live in Connecticut General Statutes § 31-40z.

Which Employers and Workers Are Covered

The statute applies to any employer operating in Connecticut with at least one paid employee. That sweeps in private companies of every size, LLCs, partnerships, nonprofits, and state and local government agencies.¹ A five-person startup carries the same obligations as a large corporation headquartered in Hartford.

An “employee” is anyone employed or permitted to work by an employer, and the law protects both outside applicants and current workers looking at an internal move or just curious about their range.¹ Remote workers who report to a Connecticut employer are covered too, because the statute keys off where the employer is, not where the worker sits.

When Your Employer Has to Tell You the Wage Range

A wage range is the pay an employer expects to rely on when setting compensation for a role. That can be a formal pay scale, a previously determined range, the actual pay of employees in comparable roles, or the budgeted amount for the opening.¹ The employer picks the framing, but cannot refuse to give you a number.

If You Are Applying for a Job

An employer must give you the wage range no later than the time it makes a compensation offer. If you ask earlier, the employer has to answer then.¹ You can raise the question in a first interview and the company is required to respond. “We’ll get to compensation later” is not a lawful answer in Connecticut.

If You Already Work There

Current employees have the right to receive the wage range for their position at three specific moments: when they are hired, when they change to a different position within the company, and the first time they ask for it.¹ That third trigger is the broadest. You can ask about your current role’s range at any time, with no promotion or transfer on the table, and your employer must comply.

What Employers Cannot Ask About Your Salary History

Employers cannot ask a prospective employee about wage or salary history, and they cannot have a recruiter or other third party do it for them. The only exception is when a candidate volunteers the information without being prompted.¹

Employers can still ask about the structure of your current compensation, like whether you receive stock options or a bonus, but not the dollar value.¹ “Do you get a bonus?” is allowed. “How much is it?” is not.

Your Right to Talk About Pay

Connecticut law prohibits employers from punishing workers who discuss compensation. Under § 31-40z(b), an employer cannot:¹

Ban employees from sharing their own pay or discussing a coworker’s voluntarily disclosed pay.
Forbid employees from asking coworkers what they make.
Require workers to sign agreements waiving the right to discuss or inquire about pay.
Fire, discipline, or otherwise penalize someone for discussing wages or asking about a coworker’s pay.

These protections overlap with the National Labor Relations Act, which treats wage discussions among coworkers as protected activity.² If your employer retaliates, you may have both a state claim and a federal one.

Equal Pay for Comparable Work

The same 2021 legislation that reshaped § 31-40z also broadened Connecticut’s equal pay statute, § 31-75, replacing the federal “equal work” standard with a “comparable work” standard.³ Federal law generally requires you to show a man and a woman hold the same job before a pay gap is actionable. Connecticut lets you compare jobs that share a similar composite of skill, effort, and responsibility performed under similar conditions, even if the titles and daily tasks differ.⁴

An employer defending a pay gap must show it results from seniority, merit, a production-based measurement system, or another legitimate business factor unrelated to sex. That defense fails if the employee can identify an alternative practice that would serve the same purpose without producing the gap.⁴

How to Enforce Your Rights

You have two options if you believe an employer violated § 31-40z: an administrative complaint with the Connecticut Department of Labor, a lawsuit in court, or both.

Filing With the Department of Labor

Complaints go to the Labor Commissioner and are handled by the DOL’s Wage and Workplace Standards Division. The DOL cannot recover damages for you individually, but it can impose a civil penalty on the employer if it confirms a violation.⁵

For a transparency violation, use the Workplace Standards Complaint Form. The Statement of Claim for Wages is a separate form for missed or unpaid wages and does not fit this kind of case.⁶ Before you file, pull together the date you asked for the wage range, how you asked, who refused or failed to respond, and any emails or notes. Organized documentation speeds up the investigation.

Suing in Court

Any applicant or employee can file a civil suit. A court may award compensatory damages, attorney’s fees and costs, punitive damages, and any other legal or equitable relief it considers appropriate.¹ Punitive damages matter because many employment statutes limit you to actual losses; here, an employer whose conduct is bad enough can face more than out-of-pocket harm.

The statute of limitations is two years from the date of the violation.¹ The clock runs from the day the employer failed to disclose the range, retaliated, or asked a prohibited question. Two years shrinks quickly once you factor in noticing the violation, finding a lawyer, and preparing a case. Document what happened as soon as you suspect a problem.

Federal Rules That May Also Apply

Connecticut’s law sits alongside several federal protections. Employer rules restricting coworker wage discussions are presumptively unlawful under the National Labor Relations Act regardless of state law.² If your employer is a federal contractor, Executive Order 13665 and the OFCCP’s regulations separately ban pay secrecy policies and retaliation over pay discussions.⁷ The EEOC treats pay inquiries reasonably tied to suspected discrimination as protected opposition activity, so retaliation for that kind of question can also support a federal EEO claim.⁸

1
Justia. Connecticut Code 31-40z – Penalizing Employees for Discussion or Disclosure of Wage Information Prohibited. Enforcement
2
U.S. Department of Labor. What Are My Employees’ Rights Under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)?
3
Connecticut General Assembly. Public Act 21-30 – An Act Concerning the Disclosure of Salary Range for a Vacant Position
4
FindLaw. Connecticut General Statutes 31-75
5
Connecticut Department of Labor. Questions and Answers Regarding Public Act 21-30
6
Connecticut Department of Labor. Wage and Workplace Standards Complaint Forms Instructions
7
Federal Register. Government Contractors, Prohibitions Against Pay Secrecy Policies and Actions
8
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Enforcement Guidance on Retaliation and Related Issues