Hawaii pay transparency law: job listings, the 50-employee line and exemptions

Since January 1, 2024, Hawaii employers with 50 or more employees have had to disclose an hourly rate or salary range in their job listings. The rule is short, one sentence of duty and three exemptions, and that brevity leaves a lot unsaid: no benefits requirement, no explicit remote-work test, no dollar penalty in the section itself. This guide covers what the statute does say, what Hawaii's Civil Rights Commission has added, and the older salary history ban that sits alongside it.

The statute: Act 203 and HRS § 378-2.8

Governor Green signed Act 203 (S.B. 1057) on July 3, 2023. It did two things. It added a new job-listing section to chapter 378, part I, now codified as HRS § 378-2.8, "Job listing; disclosures." And it amended Hawaii's equal pay statute, HRS § 378-2.3, to extend equal pay protection to every protected category in the state's employment discrimination law, not just sex. Both took effect January 1, 2024.

You will sometimes see Hawaii's posting rule cited as § 378-2.3. That is the equal pay section Act 203 amended; the posting duty itself is § 378-2.8.

What a Hawaii job listing must include

The whole duty is one sentence: "Job listings shall disclose an hourly rate or salary range that reasonably reflects the actual expected compensation." Three things follow.

• Pay only. No benefits description, bonus summary or application deadline is required. A posting written for Colorado or Washington will more than satisfy Hawaii.
• "Reasonably reflects" is the test. The range should be what you actually expect to pay for this role, not the full band for a job family. The HCRC FAQ restates it as a range "that reasonably reflects the actual expected compensation for the position."
• An hourly rate is enough for hourly roles. The statute allows "an hourly rate or salary range," so a single hourly figure for a fixed-rate job complies.

The statute does not define "job listing." Read it as any advertisement for an open position: your careers page, job boards, agency postings and social media ads for a specific role.

Who is covered, and the three exemptions

The section does not apply to job listings for:

1. Positions that are internal transfers or promotions within a current employer. Hawaii is one of the few posting states that leaves internal moves out; New York, Virginia and Connecticut all include them.
2. Public employee positions whose salary, benefits or other compensation are determined through collective bargaining.
3. Positions with employers having fewer than fifty employees.

The HCRC FAQ answers two questions the statute leaves open. Asked whether the 50 employees must be based in Hawaii, it says the law "does not specify the location of the fifty or more employees." Asked whether they must be full-time, it says the law "does not specify the type of employment." The safe reading is to count every employee, wherever they work and however many hours, which brings many mainland employers with a handful of Hawaii staff inside the rule.

The internal-promotion exemption is narrower than it looks. It covers the listing for an internal transfer or promotion. If the same opening is also advertised externally, the external listing is a job listing like any other. For handling internal candidates fairly when pay ranges are not posted to them, see interviewing internal candidates.

Remote roles

The section does not say whether it reaches a remote job open to Hawaii residents but posted by a mainland employer. Chapter 378 governs employment in Hawaii, so a role performed in Hawaii is the clear case. For a nationwide remote role, the practical answer is the same one most employers use for California and Washington: put the range in the posting. If you already post ranges for California roles under its pay scale law, covered in the California guide, extending that practice to Hawaii costs nothing.

The salary history ban

Separately from Act 203, Hawaii has prohibited salary history inquiries since 2019 under HRS § 378-2.4. According to the HCRC FAQ, an employer cannot ask about an applicant's salary history or rely on it to set salary, benefits or other compensation during hiring or contract negotiations. An applicant may volunteer it without prompting. Asking what the applicant expects is not a history question; see salary expectation questions for wording.

Act 203's amendments to § 378-2.3 also matter here. Pay differences for substantially similar work now have to be explained by a seniority system, a merit system, a system measuring earnings by quantity or quality of production, a bona fide occupational qualification, or another legitimate, non-discriminatory reason not based on a protected category. A posted range that you then ignore for some hires invites exactly that comparison.

Enforcement

Section 378-2.8 does not contain its own penalty or fine schedule, and we could not find a per-violation dollar amount on an official Hawaii source. The Hawaii Civil Rights Commission enforces chapter 378, part I, which is where the section sits, and it is the agency that published the Act 203 guidance. A candidate who believes a listing violates the law would start with the HCRC. If you need certainty about remedies for a specific listing, that is a question for Hawaii counsel.

2026 bills that did not change the threshold

Two bills in the 2026 session would have expanded the law. SB 2386 in its final House draft would have repealed the fewer-than-fifty exemption and clarified that the rule covers full-time, part-time, temporary and seasonal jobs; an earlier draft would have lowered the threshold to 25. HB 2367 would have removed the small-employer exemption. The House draft of SB 2386 carried a placeholder effective date of July 1, 3000, and we found no conference draft or enacted version of either bill in the legislature's 2026 files. As of October 2026, the 50-employee threshold stands. Expect the idea to return.

Agencies and multi-state employers

The statute puts the duty on the listing itself: "Job listings shall disclose" the rate or range. It does not say whether the employer or whoever publishes the listing is responsible. A staffing agency advertising a client's Hawaii role should assume the listing it publishes must comply if the client has 50 or more employees, and should get the range at intake rather than after the ad is drafted. For an agency, the client's headcount, not the agency's, is the number that matters for the exemption, because the exemption refers to positions "with employers" having fewer than fifty employees.

For a mainland employer, the most common mistake is assuming Hawaii does not apply because few employees work there. The 50-employee count is not limited to Hawaii, so a company with 60 employees in Oregon and one opening in Honolulu is covered for that listing.

Common mistakes with Hawaii listings

• Posting the full pay band. A band that spans every level of a job family does not "reasonably reflect the actual expected compensation" for one opening. Post the part of the band you expect to use.
• Leaving the range off the external copy of an internal opening. The internal-promotion exemption does not travel with the role once you advertise it externally.
• Treating collective bargaining as a general exemption. Only public employee positions whose pay is set through collective bargaining are exempt; a private-sector union role is not named in the exemption.
• Asking for current pay "to calibrate." That is a salary history question under HRS § 378-2.4, however it is framed.

A Hawaii job listing checklist

HAWAII JOB LISTING CHECKLIST (HRS § 378-2.8)

[ ] Employer has 50 or more employees, counted everywhere, any status
[ ] Listing is for an external opening (internal transfer or promotion
    listings are exempt)
[ ] Not a collectively bargained public employee position
[ ] Listing shows an hourly rate or a salary range
[ ] Range reasonably reflects the pay actually expected for this role
[ ] Agency and job board copies carry the same figure
[ ] Screeners ask about expectations, never salary history
[ ] Pay decisions after hire can be explained by a permitted factor

For how Hawaii compares with the other states that require a posted range, see pay transparency laws by state.