Minnesota Pay Transparency Law: Requirements, Penalties, and Coverage

Minnesota’s pay transparency law, codified at Minnesota Statutes section 181.173 and effective January 1, 2025, requires employers with 30 or more employees at Minnesota worksites to include a starting salary range and a description of benefits in every job posting.¹ A separate rule, in force since January 1, 2024, bars all Minnesota employers from asking applicants about their pay history.

Which Employers Are Covered

The 30-employee threshold is tied to Minnesota worksites. Any person or entity with 30 or more workers at one or more sites in Minnesota falls under the statute, whether it is a corporation, partnership, nonprofit, or a government body like a county, city, or school district.¹ Full-time and part-time workers both count toward the 30.

An out-of-state company with thousands of employees elsewhere but fewer than 30 at its Minnesota locations is not covered. Employers below the threshold are exempt entirely.

What Every Posting Must Include

A covered employer’s job posting has to carry three pieces of information:

A starting salary range, expressed as a minimum and maximum annual salary or hourly rate, based on the employer’s good-faith estimate of what it expects to pay. Open-ended phrasing like “$50,000 and up” or “starting at $20/hour” does not satisfy the law.
If the employer will not offer a range, a single fixed pay rate instead.
A general description of all benefits, including health insurance and retirement plans, plus any other compensation such as bonuses, commissions, or profit-sharing.

The statute defines a “posting” as any solicitation that recruits applicants for a specific open position and lists qualifications for the role. Online job boards, printed ads, and listings on a company’s own website all qualify.¹

What Counts as a Good-Faith Range

The range has to reflect the employer’s good-faith estimate at the time the ad goes live. The statute does not lay out a detailed test, but the range should track what the company actually budgets for the role.¹ A range of $40,000 to $120,000 for a job the employer realistically expects to fill near $55,000 would be difficult to defend. Anchoring the range to the compensation structure already used for similar positions is the safer approach.

Recruiters and Internal Postings

Hiring through an outside staffing agency does not shift the obligation. The statute reaches solicitations made “indirectly through a third party,” so if a recruiter posts the job on the employer’s behalf, that listing must include the salary and benefits information.¹

Internal opportunities are covered too. The law applies to “each posting for each job opening” without distinguishing internal from external candidates, so an internal posting that lists qualifications and solicits applicants must include the salary and benefits data.¹ A direct appointment made without any posting falls outside the rule because there is no solicitation.

The Separate Salary History Ban

Minnesota also prohibits employers from asking about or considering an applicant’s pay history when setting compensation. This prohibition sits in the Minnesota Human Rights Act at section 363A.08, subdivision 8, took effect January 1, 2024, and applies to every employer in the state regardless of size.²

The ban covers wages, salary, earnings, benefits, and any other form of compensation from a current or former employer. Pay decisions are supposed to rest on the applicant’s skills, education, certifications, and the broader market. The rule also reaches internal candidates seeking a promotion or transfer.³

Two carve-outs matter. If an applicant volunteers their pay history without any prompting, the employer can use that information to offer more than originally planned, but not less. And the law does not stop an employer from stating the salary it plans to offer or asking what the applicant hopes to earn.² A hiring manager can ask what compensation someone is looking for. They cannot ask what a prior employer paid.

Enforcement and Penalties

Section 181.173 has no explicit enforcement mechanism, no schedule of fines, and no private right of action for applicants. The statute creates the disclosure obligation and stops there. The Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry is the likely enforcer given its role over other wage and employment laws, but the statute does not expressly assign that authority.¹ Future rulemaking or amendments could fill in specific consequences.

Remote Workers and Out-of-State Employers

Coverage hinges on having 30 or more employees “at one or more sites in Minnesota.” The statute does not specifically address remote workers or out-of-state employers recruiting Minnesota residents for fully remote roles.¹ A company headquartered elsewhere with a Minnesota office or co-working space where 30 or more people work is clearly covered. A fully remote company with Minnesota employees scattered across the state but no traditional worksite is the harder case. Until the state issues guidance or a court interprets “sites in Minnesota,” including salary data in the posting is the cautious choice.

1
Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Statute 181.173 – Salary Ranges Required in Job Postings
2
Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Statute 363A.08 – Unfair Discriminatory Practices, Employment
3
Minnesota.gov. Pay History