North Carolina pay transparency law: no posting rule, a written pay notice at hire, and the Virginia line

North Carolina has no statewide pay transparency law for private employers, as of October 2026: no statute requires a salary range in a job posting, on request or after an interview. What North Carolina does require is a written pay notice at hire. Under G.S. 95-25.13, every employer must tell employees in writing, when they are hired, the promised wages and the day and place of payment. Cities cannot add a posting rule for private employers, because the Wage and Hour Act preempts local rules on compensation. And a job across the state line in Virginia has needed a range since July 1, 2026.

Does North Carolina require salary ranges in job postings?

No. The Wage and Hour Act (Article 2A of Chapter 95) covers minimum wage, overtime, wage payment, deductions and records, and none of its sections requires pay in a job ad. North Carolina also has no salary history ban for private employers; our North Carolina salary history page covers what is allowed and why asking about expectations is still the better question.

What pay does a North Carolina employer have to disclose?

The disclosure duty comes at hire, not in the ad. G.S. 95-25.13 says every employer shall:

1. "Notify its employees, in writing at the time of hiring, of the promised wages and the day and place for payment."
2. Make its employment practices and policies on promised wages available in writing or through a posted notice accessible to employees.
3. Notify employees in writing at least one pay period before any change in promised wages (a retroactive increase needs no notice).
4. Give each employee an itemized statement of deductions for each pay period in which deductions are made.

For recruiters, the first item is the one that matters: the offer letter or onboarding document should state the wage, pay frequency and how the employee is paid. A candidate who was given a range on the phone screen and an exact wage in writing at hire has had everything North Carolina requires.

A pay notice block for North Carolina offer letters

A short block in the offer letter covers the at-hire notice. The wording below is an example with example figures; adapt it to your pay practices:

PAY NOTICE (G.S. 95-25.13)
Position:        Warehouse Lead, Greensboro site
Promised wage:   $23.50 per hour; overtime at 1.5x after 40 hours
Pay schedule:    Biweekly, every other Friday
How paid:        Direct deposit to the account you designate
Policies:        Pay and deduction policies are in the handbook,
                 section 4, and posted in the break room
Changes:         We will tell you in writing at least one pay
                 period before any change to your promised wages

Keep a signed copy in the personnel file. When a staffing agency pays the worker, agree in writing with the client which of you sends the notice, so it is not missed.

Can Charlotte, Raleigh or Durham require pay ranges?

Not for private employers. G.S. 95-25.1(d) says the Wage and Hour Act supersedes and preempts "any ordinance, regulation, resolution, or policy adopted or imposed by a unit of local government or other political subdivision of the State that regulates or imposes any requirement upon an employer pertaining to compensation of employees, such as the wage levels of employees, hours of labor, payment of earned wages, benefits, leave, or well-being of minors in the workforce." A rule making employers publish what they will pay is a requirement "pertaining to compensation," so a city posting ordinance for private employers would run straight into it. The subsection exempts a local government "regulating, compensating, or controlling its own employees," so cities and counties can still put ranges in their own job ads.

What applies to state government jobs?

Executive Order No. 93, "Prohibiting the Use of Salary History in the State Hiring Process," was signed on April 2, 2019, and covers hiring by state agencies under the Governor. It deals with salary history rather than posted ranges and does not bind private employers; the salary history page has the detail.

Is a North Carolina pay transparency bill pending?

The closest bill is Senate Bill 607 of the 2025–2026 session, the "North Carolina Equal Pay Act." Its filed text would add a new G.S. 95-25.6A barring pay discrimination based on gender and making it unlawful to require employees, as a condition of employment, to refrain from discussing their own or coworkers' wages, to screen applicants on salary history, or to seek salary history from a current or former employer. It contains no range-in-the-posting requirement. It passed first reading on March 25, 2025 and was referred to the Senate Committee on Rules and Operations on March 26, 2025, with no action since. No pay transparency bill became law in 2025 or 2026.

Which other states' laws reach a North Carolina posting?

• Virginia. Since July 1, 2026, Va. Code § 40.1-28.7:12 makes it unlawful to "fail or refuse to disclose in each public and internal posting for each job, promotion, transfer, or other employment opportunity the wage, salary, or wage or salary range for the position," with no size threshold. A Raleigh employer opening a role in Virginia, or a Charlotte staffing firm filling one, needs the range; see the Virginia guide.
• New York covers jobs that report to a New York supervisor or office even when performed elsewhere (Labor Law § 194-b). A Charlotte-based analyst whose manager sits in New York is in a covered job.
• Remote roles open nationwide pick up Colorado, Washington, California and the rest; see pay transparency for remote jobs.

North Carolina's other neighbors, South Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee, are not among the posting states in our state tracker; see the Georgia guide.

Do federal rules require pay ranges?

No. The federal contractor pay transparency provision protected pay discussions and never required ranges. It rested on Executive Order 11246, revoked by Executive Order 14173 on January 21, 2025, and a Department of Labor final rule removed its regulations, including 41 CFR 60-1.35, effective October 26, 2026. The NLRB says the National Labor Relations Act still protects most private-sector employees who discuss wages, and the EEOC enforces the Equal Pay Act against virtually all employers.

What should North Carolina recruiters and staffing agencies do?

1. Put the G.S. 95-25.13 notice in every offer: promised wage, payday and method, in writing.
2. Treat Virginia jobs as range-required, including internal postings for promotions and transfers.
3. Check the reporting line for New York and Illinois managers.
4. Use a two-ended range for remote roles. Indeed's pay formats include "From" and "Up to," which leave out one end.
5. Agencies: get the range and the work location at intake; see pay transparency for staffing agencies.
6. Drop pay-secrecy clauses. They are already an NLRA risk, and SB 607 would make them unlawful under state law too.

North Carolina at a glance

More North Carolina rules: hiring employees in North Carolina, ban the box in North Carolina and staffing agency licensing in North Carolina.