The Delaware pay transparency law requires employers with four or more Delaware employees to publish a good-faith salary range in every job posting beginning in September 2027, and it already bars them from asking applicants about prior pay. The posting rule was signed into law on September 26, 2025 through House Substitute 1 for House Bill 105. The salary history ban has been on the books since 2017. Violations can bring fines of up to $10,000 per incident after an initial written warning.
Which Employers Are Covered
Coverage turns on a single number: four. Any employer with at least four employees working in Delaware at the time of an alleged violation must comply. That includes private companies, the state itself, political subdivisions, school districts, and other public entities.1Justia Law. Delaware Code Title 19 Chapter 7 Subchapter II – Section 711 Businesses with three or fewer Delaware workers are not.
The threshold is measured at the moment of the alleged violation, not at the start of the year or the date a posting went live. Cross the line mid-year and the obligations attach immediately. If you operate in multiple states, count only Delaware-based workers, not your national headcount.
What Job Postings Must Include Starting in 2027
From September 2027 forward, every public and internal posting for a Delaware-based position must show a good-faith compensation range: the minimum and maximum pay the employer genuinely expects to offer. Phrases like “competitive salary” or “DOE” without any numbers do not satisfy the requirement.2Delaware General Assembly. HS1 for HB 105 – Legislation Document
The rule reaches any written or electronic listing that describes a specific opening, whether it appears on the employer’s careers page, a third-party job board, or a social media platform. Using an outside recruiter does not shift the obligation. The recruiter has to include the same salary information the employer would.
Compensation here means base salary or hourly wage. Employers can mention benefits, bonuses, or equity alongside the range, but the base pay range itself is the required disclosure.
How Remote and Multi-State Roles Fit In
The posting rule is not limited to in-office jobs in Delaware. Positions based in Delaware are covered no matter where the worker physically sits, and non-international remote positions offered by Delaware-based employers are also covered. A Wilmington company hiring a remote worker in Pennsylvania still has to include a salary range in the listing. If your business has a Delaware presence and you post fully remote roles, treat those postings the same as any other covered position.
The Salary History Ban
Delaware already prohibits employers from asking applicants about their prior compensation, and this piece of the framework is fully in effect. An employer cannot request salary history from the applicant directly, or indirectly through a background check provider or a previous employer, during the hiring process.3Delaware General Assembly. House Bill 1 – Bill Detail
Two exceptions matter. An applicant may voluntarily share their pay history if they want to; the employer just cannot be the one asking. And once an offer with specific compensation has been negotiated, extended, and accepted, the employer may seek and confirm the applicant’s prior pay.3Delaware General Assembly. House Bill 1 – Bill Detail Verification is allowed after the deal is done, not as a tool for setting the offer.
Discussing expectations for the role being filled is still fair game. The restriction is on backward-looking questions about what the applicant earned somewhere else.
What Current Employees Can Do
Delaware law protects the ability of workers to talk about pay with each other. Employers cannot require silence about wages as a condition of employment, force employees to sign agreements waiving that right, or punish anyone for asking about or sharing wage information.1Justia Law. Delaware Code Title 19 Chapter 7 Subchapter II – Section 711 Those protections sit in Section 711(j) and are separate from the newer posting rule.
Once the 2027 posting requirement takes effect, current employees will also be able to request the pay range for their existing position at any time. When an employee is promoted or transferred, the employer must disclose the range for the new role.2Delaware General Assembly. HS1 for HB 105 – Legislation Document Nothing in the law forces an individual employee to reveal their own pay to coworkers who ask. The right to discuss is protected; disclosure remains voluntary.
Penalties and Enforcement
The Delaware Department of Labor investigates complaints. Applicants and employees who believe an employer has violated the posting or salary history rules can file with the DOL. There is no private right of action, so individuals cannot bring their own lawsuits in court over these specific transparency violations.
For posting and pay range disclosure violations, penalties are tiered:
- First offense: a written warning, no fine.
- Second and any subsequent offense: a civil fine of at least $500 and up to $10,000 per violation.2Delaware General Assembly. HS1 for HB 105 – Legislation Document
The written warning gives employers a chance to fix their practices. The jump to a possible $10,000 per-incident fine after that is significant enough that the grace period should not be read as breathing room to delay compliance.
Retaliation Is Its Own Violation
Employers cannot fire, demote, discipline, or otherwise punish anyone for exercising rights under the pay transparency law. Filing a complaint with the DOL, providing information during an investigation, and testifying in related proceedings are all protected. So is expressing the intent to do any of those things.
Retaliation carries its own penalty of $500 to $10,000 per act, separate from and on top of any fine for the underlying transparency violation. There is no written-warning first step for retaliation.
Keeping Records That Prove Compliance
Delaware’s pay transparency statute does not set a specific retention period for job postings, but federal recordkeeping rules still apply. EEOC regulations generally require personnel and employment records to be kept for at least one year, and the Fair Labor Standards Act requires payroll records to be retained for three years and records explaining wage-rate differences between employees for at least two.4U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Recordkeeping Requirements
Practically, that means keeping copies of every job posting, the salary range used, and any documentation showing how the range was determined. If a complaint comes months or years later, the original posting and supporting notes are the cleanest way to show good-faith compliance.
Federal Law Does Not Fill the Gap
No federal statute requires salary ranges in job postings. The Equal Pay Act and Title VII address pay discrimination, but neither mandates upfront pay disclosure. Posting obligations exist only through state and local laws, and Delaware has now joined the states with such a rule. Employers operating across state lines should check each jurisdiction separately rather than assume Delaware’s rules travel or that federal compliance is enough.