Posting a job opening sounds straightforward — but in California, it comes with a growing list of legal requirements that many employers overlook. From pay scale disclosures to salary history prohibitions, the rules around job postings have evolved significantly in recent years and continue to be refined by legislation, agency guidance, and litigation. Getting these right from the start is not just about compliance — it signals to applicants and regulators alike that your company takes its obligations seriously and reduces your exposure to enforcement actions and claims.

Here are five things California employers need to know before posting their next open position.

1. All California Employers Must Be Prepared to Disclose Pay Scales Upon Request

California’s pay transparency framework is primarily codified at Labor Code Section 432.3. The statute has two distinct origins. AB 168 (effective January 1, 2018) first prohibited employers from asking applicants about salary history and required employers to provide pay scale information upon reasonable request. SB 1162, signed by Governor Newsom on September 27, 2022 and effective January 1, 2023, significantly expanded those obligations — adding a mandatory posting requirement for larger employers, extending disclosure rights to current employees, and introducing a record retention requirement.

Under Labor Code §432.3(c)(1), all California employers — regardless of size — must provide the pay scale for an open position to any applicant who makes a reasonable request. Under §432.3(c)(2), current employees have the right to request the pay scale for any position they currently hold or are seeking. Employers must maintain records of job titles and wage rate history for each employee throughout employment and for three years after employment ends under §432.3(c)(4).

The ‘reasonable request’ standard has limits. The law is not designed to allow someone who walks past your storefront to demand a full compensation breakdown for every role in your company. However, if a candidate is actively engaged in your hiring process — submitting an application, completing an interview, or advancing through onboarding — their request will almost certainly qualify as reasonable. Employers should have a consistent, documented process for responding to these inquiries, including who is responsible for providing the information and how it is delivered.

Pay scale disclosure obligations apply to all California employers under Labor Code §432.3. If you do not have a clear internal process for responding when an applicant asks what the job pays, build one now.

2. Employers with 15 or More Employees Must Include the Pay Scale in Every Job Posting

SB 1162 added Labor Code §432.3(c)(3), which requires employers with 15 or more employees to include the pay scale directly in all job postings — not behind a link or QR code. Under §432.3(c)(5), this obligation extends to third parties as well: if you engage a staffing agency, recruiting firm, or job board to post on your behalf, you must provide the pay scale to that third party, and the third party must include it in the posting. The requirement also covers any position that could be filled by a worker in California, including fully remote roles.

Labor Code §432.3 defines ‘pay scale’ as the salary or hourly wage range the employer reasonably expects to pay for the position. Bonus, equity, tips, and other forms of compensation are not expressly required, though many employers include them to attract candidates. The pay scale must appear in the posting itself — the Labor Commissioner has confirmed that linking to a separate page or providing a QR code does not satisfy the requirement.

If you post jobs through recruiters or third-party platforms, do not assume they are handling the pay scale requirement. Confirm it directly with every vendor posting on your behalf. Responsibility under §432.3(c)(5) runs to the employer.

3. Your Pay Range Must Reflect a Realistic, Good Faith Estimate — Not a Placeholder

The definition of ‘pay scale’ under Labor Code §432.3 was tightened effective January 1, 2026 by SB 642 — California’s Pay Equity Enforcement Act. The amended statute now requires that a pay scale reflect “a good faith estimate of the salary or hourly wage range that the employer reasonably expects to pay for the position upon hire.” This change was a direct response to employers posting artificially wide salary ranges that technically complied with the prior law but provided no meaningful information to applicants.

Employers with genuinely broad pay ranges for a role — due to geography, experience tiers, or variable compensation structures — should document the business rationale and bring the posted range as close as possible to actual expectations for the specific opening. A wide range may be defensible, but it must be explainable. If a candidate, a regulator, or opposing counsel challenges your posted range, you should be prepared to demonstrate that it was based on a real analysis of what you expected to pay upon hire — not a number chosen to satisfy the letter of the law without disclosing anything of substance.

If you cannot explain your posted pay range in plain business terms, narrow it. SB 642 made ‘good faith’ a statutory requirement, not just a best practice.

4. Social Media Recruiting Posts May Qualify as Job Postings — Treat Them Accordingly

As employers increasingly recruit through Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and other platforms, a practical question has emerged: does a social media post constitute a ‘job posting’ for purposes of Labor Code §432.3(c)(3)? There is no definitive case law or agency guidance resolving this issue, but the risk is real and employers should not assume they are in the clear simply because they are posting on a social platform rather than a traditional job board.

Consider the range: a LinkedIn post advertising a specific open position with a link to apply is almost certainly a job posting. A casual Instagram story that says ‘we’re hiring — DM us for details’ and directs followers to an application page occupies grayer territory. But the underlying principle is the same: if the post is designed to attract applicants for a specific position, there is a credible argument that it qualifies as a job posting and must include — or link directly to — the required pay scale information. The fact that California’s pay transparency law was drafted in an era of traditional job ads does not immunize digital recruiting activity.

The safest approach is to include the pay scale in every recruiting post for a specific position, or to ensure any linked application page contains the required information. Inconsistency across platforms creates unnecessary exposure.

5. Save Your Job Postings — And Know the Other Hiring-Related Deadlines on Your Radar

One of the most overlooked obligations under SB 1162 is record retention. Labor Code §432.3(c)(4) requires employers to maintain records of job titles and wage rate history for each employee for the duration of employment plus three years after separation. Although the statute does not separately specify a retention period for the job postings themselves, given that wage and hour claims carry a three-year statute of limitations — and some related claims extend to four years — employers should retain copies of all job postings for at least three years. More importantly, build a formal process for saving and organizing those postings in a retrievable format.

Two additional obligations deserve attention. First, under Labor Code §432.3(a)–(b) (as originally enacted by AB 168, effective January 1, 2018), employers are prohibited from asking applicants about their salary history or relying on salary history in compensation decisions. Hiring managers must be trained on this rule — violations occur in conversations, not just on paper. Managers may, however, ask applicants about their salary expectations. Second, employers with 100 or more employees face a May 13, 2026 deadline to submit their annual pay data report to the California Civil Rights Department under Government Code §12999, as expanded by SB 1162. This report requires detailed workforce data broken down by race, ethnicity, sex, and job category. Start compiling that data now.

Record retention and pay data reporting are frequently treated as afterthoughts, but both carry real enforcement risk. Build them into your compliance calendar before the deadline is on top of you.