Kentucky pay transparency law: no range rule after HB 210 stalled, and the state equal pay test (2026)

Kentucky has no law that requires employers to put a pay range in job postings, as of October 2026, and no law that bars asking about salary history. The 2026 bill that would have required ranges, House Bill 210, was sent to committee in January 2026 and never heard from again, and the 2025 salary history bill, House Bill 289, met the same fate. What applies instead is Kentucky's equal pay statute, KRS 337.423, which uses a "comparable work" test; the federal Equal Pay Act and Title VII; the federal right to discuss pay; and the posting laws of Illinois and Virginia for jobs that reach into them.

Does Kentucky require a salary range in job postings?

No. KRS chapter 337, Kentucky's wage and hour law, regulates how wages are paid and bars sex-based pay discrimination, but it says nothing about what a job advertisement must disclose. A Kentucky employer may post without a range and may ask what a candidate earns now, as far as state law goes. The rest of the state's hiring rules, including background checks and new-hire reporting, are in our guide to hiring employees in Kentucky.

What would House Bill 210 have required?

HB 210, "AN ACT relating to wage transparency," would have added a new section to KRS chapter 337: "In every job posting, the employer responsible for the job posting shall disclose the wages or wage range, as well as a general description of all benefits or other compensation associated with the position." The bill text defined a job posting as any printed or electronic advertisement made "for the purpose of attracting applications for employment" that describes the position, and a wage range as the range the employer "anticipates relying on when setting wages for a position," which could be drawn from a pay scale, a previously set range, the pay of employees in comparable positions, or the budgeted amount.

The record shows HB 210 introduced on January 7, 2026 and sent to the House Committee on Economic Development and Workforce Investment on January 14, 2026, with no later action before the session ended. Those four sources for a range are still the right way to build one, whether or not the law requires it; see how to set salary ranges for job postings.

What about salary history questions in Kentucky?

They are allowed under state law. HB 289 of 2025 would have made it "an unlawful discriminatory practice for an employer, employment agency, or employee or agent thereof" to inquire about salary history, rely on it in setting pay, or penalize an applicant who declined to share it, with exceptions for voluntary disclosure, internal transfers, background checks and collectively bargained public positions. According to the bill text and its record, it was introduced on February 4, 2025 and referred to the same House committee on February 7, 2025, and went no further.

Recruiters who also fill roles in states that ban the question usually drop it everywhere and ask about expectations; see salary expectation questions and salary history ban states.

What does Kentucky's equal pay law require?

KRS 337.423 bars an employer from paying employees "in the same establishment" of one sex less than the opposite sex "for comparable work on jobs which have comparable requirements relating to skill, effort and responsibility." Differences paid under established seniority or merit increase systems that do not discriminate by sex are excluded. An employer may not cut anyone's pay to fix a gap, and may not retaliate against an employee who invokes the law.

Three definitions in KRS 337.420 shape who is covered. An employer is a person with "two (2) or more employees within the state in each of twenty (20) or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar year," plus its agents. "Wage rate" means all compensation, including payments for employee benefits. And under KRS 337.423(1), the state rule does not apply to an employer subject to the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, where the federal law imposes comparable or greater requirements, if the employer files a statement with the commissioner of the Department of Workplace Standards saying it is covered by the FLSA. Employers that have not filed remain subject to the comparable-work test.

Which federal rules apply to Kentucky employers?

• Equal Pay Act and Title VII. The EEOC's equal pay page says the Equal Pay Act covers virtually all employers and requires equal pay for jobs that are "substantially equal," while Title VII and the ADA bar pay discrimination at 15 or more employees.
• Pay discussions. The NLRB lists talking with co-workers about "your wages and benefits" as protected concerted activity for most private-sector employees.
• Federal contractors. The OFCCP pay transparency provision, 41 CFR 60-1.35, is not in force. It rested on Executive Order 11246, which Executive Order 14173 revoked on January 21, 2025, and the Department of Labor's final rule rescinded the order's regulations, including 60-1.35, effective October 26, 2026 (91 FR 54444).

When do Illinois or Virginia rules reach a Kentucky job?

A Paducah employer with a crew working in southern Illinois, or a Pikeville company hiring for a site across the Virginia line, should post a range for those roles. For roles open to remote candidates in many states, see pay transparency for remote jobs, and the Illinois and Virginia guides for the full rules.

What should recruiters and staffing agencies hiring in Kentucky do?

1. Ask two questions at intake: where will the hire work, and where does their manager sit? An Illinois or Virginia answer means a range in the posting.
2. Have a range for every role. Kentucky does not require it, but candidates ask, and HB 210's four sources (pay scale, prior range, current pay for comparable roles, budget) are a ready method.
3. Check the employer's KRS 337.423 status. If the employer has not filed an FLSA statement with the Department of Workplace Standards, the state's comparable-work test applies alongside the federal one.
4. Agencies: get the client's range and benefits in writing before posting any Illinois-linked or Virginia role. Kentucky agency rules are in staffing agency license in Kentucky; pay posting duties for agencies are in pay transparency for staffing agencies.
5. Write down the reason for each offer and remove pay-secrecy rules from handbooks.

Example only: a Lexington staffing firm fills a warehouse lead role for a Louisville client at $22 to $25 an hour and a matching role for the client's Bristol, Virginia site. The Louisville ad may omit pay under Kentucky law; the Virginia ad may not, so the firm posts the range in both to keep one template.

Kentucky pay rules at a glance

A Kentucky posting checklist

KENTUCKY POSTING CHECKLIST (as of October 2026)

[ ] Where will the hire work, and where is the manager?
[ ] Illinois link: pay scale + benefits (or a link to them)
[ ] Virginia job: wage, salary or range; no pay history questions
[ ] Remote role: check each state the ad is open to
[ ] Kentucky-only role: range optional; have one ready
[ ] Range built from pay scale, prior range, comparable pay or budget
[ ] Offer reason written down; no pay-secrecy rule
[ ] Agency: client's range and benefits received in writing