Work · Pay transparency
Pay Transparency Law in North Carolina
Whether an employer in North Carolina must disclose the salary range, where it has to appear, who it covers, and what to do if a posting hides the pay. This is separate from your right to discuss wages with coworkers. Cited to the statute.
What the pay transparency law requires in North Carolina
Who must disclose the range, where it has to appear, and the situations the rule does not reach.
North Carolina is currently silent on pay-range posting and salary history, and preempts local action. Confirm the current text of Chapter 95 and watch for any new legislation or executive action before relying on the absence of a rule.
| What the law requires | What it means |
|---|---|
| No salary-range posting duty | General Statutes Chapter 95 has no provision requiring a pay range in any job advertisement, at any employer size. A full-chapter read for salary history, salary range, wage range, pay scale, pay range, pay transparency, and job posting returned nothing. |
| A written wage notice at hiring | Under § 95-25.13(1), every employer must notify its employees in writing, at the time of hiring, of the promised wages and the day and place for payment. This binds a two-person business exactly as it binds a large one, because it has no employee-count threshold. |
| Pay policies must be available and changes noticed | Section 95-25.13(2) requires the employer to make its wage practices available in writing or by a posted notice for employees, and (3) requires written notice at least one pay period before a reduction in promised wages. |
| North Carolina preempts its own cities | Section 95-25.1(d) supersedes any local ordinance regulating an employer’s compensation of employees, and § 160A-20.1(a) bars a city from imposing on a contractor a requirement it could not impose on all employers. A Charlotte or Durham posting ordinance is not realistic while these stand. |
| Where it does not apply | What it means |
|---|---|
| The wage notice runs to employees, not applicants | Section 95-25.13 is triggered at the time of hiring, after the offer has been made and accepted. A candidate who is never hired is owed nothing under it, which is why it is a hiring-paperwork duty and not a recruitment rule. |
| Retroactive raises need no advance notice | The advance-notice requirement in § 95-25.13(3) is waived for a retroactive wage increase, so the notice bites only on reductions and other unfavorable changes. |
| Preemption carve-outs | The local-government preemption in § 95-25.1(d) does not reach a city regulating its own employees, certain economic-development incentives, a federal community-development block-grant requirement, or programs under § 160D-1311. |
| Another state’s posting law can still apply | A remote role that could be performed from a state with a posting law, such as California, New York, or Illinois, can trigger that state’s disclosure rule even when the employer is based in North Carolina. |
What you can do right now
Concrete, neutral steps if a job in North Carolina hides the pay range. This is legal information, not legal advice.
- Do not expect a range on a North Carolina posting
A North Carolina employer breaks no state law by advertising a job with no salary information. If pay matters to you, raise it early in the process.
- Ask about pay directly
Since no rule forces disclosure, ask for the expected range for the role. The employer is not legally required to answer, but many will.
- Expect a written wage figure once hired
Under § 95-25.13, once you are hired the employer must give you, in writing, the promised wages and the day and place of payment. Keep that document.
- Check another state’s law for remote roles
If the job is remote and could be performed from a state with a posting law, that state’s rule may require a range regardless of the employer’s North Carolina base.
If a posting omits a required pay range, the state labor department takes complaints and can explain how the rule is enforced and any penalty.
→ North Carolina Department of Labor, Wage and Hour BureauThis is general legal information, not legal advice. Coverage turns on employer size and where the job can be performed, so confirm your situation against the statute.
What workers in North Carolina get wrong about pay transparency
North Carolina does not require a salary range in a job posting, and the point is settled by a very thorough negative. The entire text of General Statutes Chapter 95, all 444,019 characters, was read and searched for seven different phrasings, and none of them appears. There is no posting mandate, no salary-history ban, and no pay-secrecy protection anywhere in the chapter. What North Carolina does have is § 95-25.13, which requires an employer to notify its employees in writing, at the time of hiring, of the promised wages and the day and place for payment. That is a duty owed to a person who has already accepted the job, not information handed to candidates before they apply, so it is a wage-payment tool rather than a transparency tool. The single most common error on this topic is treating the two as the same thing. North Carolina also preempts its own cities twice over, once through § 95-25.1(d) on employer compensation rules and again through § 160A-20.1(a) on city contracting, so a local pay-transparency ordinance is not a realistic possibility here. This is legal information, not legal advice.
Common questions
Does North Carolina require salary ranges in job postings?
No. North Carolina has no pay-transparency law, so a private employer is not required to put a salary range in a job posting. Disclosure is voluntary under state law.
Does North Carolina ban salary-history questions?
No. There is no salary-history ban in the General Statutes for private employers. A 2019 executive order addressed only the state’s own hiring and is not relied on here.
What does N.C. Gen. Stat. § 95-25.13 require?
It requires an employer to notify its employees in writing, at the time of hiring, of the promised wages and the day and place for payment, and to give notice before a wage cut. It is owed to hired employees, not to applicants.
Can a North Carolina city require pay ranges in postings?
Not realistically. Section 95-25.1(d) preempts local rules regulating an employer’s compensation of employees, and § 160A-20.1(a) closes the city-contracting route.
Could another state pay-transparency law apply to a North Carolina job?
Yes. A remote role that could be performed from a state with a posting law, such as California or New York, can require the range even if the employer is based in North Carolina.
Not legal advicePlainStatute provides plain-language summaries of public law for general information only. This is not legal advice. Statutes change; always confirm current requirements with the official source linked above before acting.