Nebraska pay transparency law: pay talk is protected, pay ranges are not required (2026)

Nebraska has no law that requires employers to put a pay range in a job posting or give one to applicants, as of November 2026. What it has is a pay-discussion law: section 48-1114(1)(d) of the Nebraska Fair Employment Practice Act, added by LB217 in 2019, bars employers with 15 or more employees from retaliating against employees or applicants who ask about, discuss or disclose pay. The same section states that it does not "create an obligation for any employer or employee to disclose information regarding employee wages, benefits, or other compensation." No pay range bill was referred to the Legislature's Business and Labor Committee in the 2025 or 2026 sessions. The rule most likely to reach a Nebraska posting is Colorado's, next door.

Does Nebraska require salary ranges in job postings?

No. Chapter 48 of the Revised Statutes, the labor chapter, has no posting, on-request or after-interview pay disclosure rule, and section 48-1114(2)(a) rules out reading one into the pay-discussion law. An Omaha, Lincoln or Grand Island employer can post without a range as far as state law goes. The rest of Nebraska's hiring rules, from new hire reporting to the public-employer ban-the-box law, are in our guide to hiring employees in Nebraska.

What does Nebraska's pay discussion law protect?

Section 48-1114(1) makes it an unlawful employment practice for an employer to discriminate against "any of his or her employees or applicants for employment," and for an employment agency to discriminate against any individual, because the person "has inquired about, discussed, or disclosed information regarding employee wages, benefits, or other compensation." It applies to employers covered by the Fair Employment Practice Act, which section 48-1102(2) defines as those with fifteen or more employees for each working day in 20 or more calendar weeks of the current or preceding year, plus the state and its political subdivisions. The protection has written limits:

Two cautions. First, the federal National Labor Relations Act sets its own rules for most private-sector employees; the NLRB lists "talking with one or more co-workers about your wages and benefits or other working conditions" as protected concerted activity, so a working-hours rule that satisfies section 48-1114 may still need a federal review. Second, the section names applicants. Dropping a candidate because they asked what the job pays, or repeated what a friend at the company earns, invites a claim under it.

What does Nebraska's equal pay law require?

Nebraska's equal pay statutes sit in sections 48-1219 to 48-1227.01, administered by the Nebraska Equal Opportunity Commission. Section 48-1221(1) says no employer shall pay an employee "at a wage rate less than the rate at which the employer pays any employee of the opposite sex in such establishment for equal work on jobs which require equal skill, effort and responsibility under similar working conditions," unless the difference comes from a seniority system, a merit increase system, a system measuring quantity or quality of production, "or any factor other than sex." Employers may not cut anyone's pay to comply, and may not retaliate against employees who invoke the law.

Coverage is broad. Section 48-1220 defines an employer as any person "who has two or more employees for each working day in each of twenty or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar year," and includes the state and political subdivisions "regardless of the number of employees." It defines the wage rate to include "amounts paid by employers for employee benefits," so a benefits gap can be a pay gap. The federal Equal Pay Act also reaches virtually all employers, according to the EEOC.

Is a Nebraska pay range bill pending?

No. The bills referred to the Business and Labor Committee in the 109th Legislature, which covered the 2025 and 2026 sessions, dealt with workers' compensation, minimum wage, paid sick time, unemployment insurance, apprenticeships, E-Verify and health care staffing agencies, but none with pay ranges or salary history, according to the committee's bill list on the Legislature's bill search. Bills that did not pass by the end of the 2026 session are marked indefinitely postponed, so any pay range proposal would have to start over in 2027.

Can Omaha or Lincoln require pay ranges?

We found no Nebraska city or county ordinance that requires private employers to post pay ranges, as of November 2026. Either city can list pay in its own job announcements, and the state's pay discussion and equal pay laws apply everywhere in Nebraska regardless of local rules.

When does Colorado's rule reach a Nebraska employer?

Colorado shares Nebraska's southwestern border, and its Equal Pay for Equal Work Act reaches any employer with a single Colorado employee. C.R.S. 8-5-101(5) defines an employer as "every other person employing a person in the state," and section 8-5-201(2) requires each job notice to disclose the hourly or salary compensation or range, a general description of benefits and other compensation, and the date the application window is expected to close. The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment's INFO #9A explains how that lands on an out-of-state company:

One narrow carve-out helps small out-of-state employers: under section 8-5-201(1), an employer "only physically located outside of Colorado" with fewer than fifteen employees working in Colorado, all remote, need only notify its Colorado staff of remote openings through July 1, 2029. That eases the internal-notice duty; it does not remove the pay disclosure for postings of jobs that can be done in Colorado. Fines run $500 to $10,000 per violation. The full rules are in our Colorado guide, and other states' remote tests are on pay transparency for remote jobs.

Do federal rules require pay ranges?

No. The federal contractor pay transparency rule, 41 CFR 60-1.35, protected pay discussions but never required ranges, and it no longer exists: Executive Order 14173 revoked Executive Order 11246 on January 21, 2025, and the Department of Labor's final rule removed the order's regulations, including part 60-1, effective October 26, 2026 (91 FR 54444). Nebraska's section 48-1114 still protects pay discussions at employers with 15 or more employees, contractor or not. See job posting requirements for federal contractors.

What should Nebraska recruiters and staffing agencies do?

1. Count Colorado employees before you post. One remote worker in Fort Collins changes every later posting for a job that could be done from Colorado.
2. Never penalize the pay question. Train screeners that a candidate asking what the role pays is protected under section 48-1114 at employers with 15 or more employees. Answer it; see salary expectation questions for phrasing.
3. Review handbook pay-confidentiality and working-hours rules against both section 48-1114 and the NLRA.
4. Compare total pay, not just base, because Nebraska's equal pay statutes count benefits in the wage rate.
5. Agencies: get the client's range and work location at intake. Nebraska agency rules, including limits on fees and noncompetes, are in staffing agency licensing in Nebraska; posting duties for agencies are in pay transparency for staffing agencies.

Example wording (example figures): "This plant role pays $23 to $27 an hour depending on shift, with medical and a 401(k) match. Applications close November 30." That is optional in Nebraska and covers Colorado's three items if the employer is covered there. For building the range, see how to set salary ranges for job postings.

Nebraska at a glance

More Nebraska rules: ban the box in Nebraska, Nebraska background check laws, employer of record in Nebraska and E-Verify in Nebraska. For every state's rule, see pay transparency laws by state.