South Dakota pay transparency law: no range rule, an equal pay statute with narrow defenses, and Minnesota next door (2026)

South Dakota has no law that requires employers to list a pay range in job postings or to give one to applicants, as of November 2026, and no law that bars asking about salary history. The Legislature meets every year, and neither the 2025 session nor the 2026 session produced a bill on the subject. What applies instead is South Dakota's 1966 equal pay statute, SDCL 60-12-15, whose list of allowed pay differences is narrower than the federal one; the Human Relations Act's ban on pay discrimination, which reaches any employer with an employee in the state; federal law; and Minnesota's posting rule for jobs on the Minnesota side of the Sioux Falls labor market.

Does South Dakota require a salary range in job postings?

No. The labor title, SDCL Title 60, has no posting, range or pay history provision, and its pay-equality rule is the sex-based equal pay chapter discussed below. A Sioux Falls, Rapid City or Aberdeen employer may advertise with or without pay. South Dakota is not among the posting states in our state-by-state tracker, and we found no South Dakota city ordinance requiring pay in job ads. For the state's other hiring rules (registration, notices, background checks), see hiring employees in South Dakota.

Is a South Dakota pay transparency bill pending?

No. South Dakota holds a session every year, so both years count. The Legislature's bill lists for the 2025 session (571 bills and resolutions) and the 2026 session (666) include bills on E-Verify, reemployment benefits, public employee rules and employment contract restrictions for community services providers, but none on pay ranges, wage disclosure in job ads or salary history. Any new proposal would have to start in the 2027 session.

What does South Dakota's equal pay law require?

SDCL 60-12-15 says no employer may pay an employee less than an employee of the opposite sex "for comparable work on jobs which have comparable requirements relating to skill, effort, and responsibility, but not to physical strength." Two features set it apart from the federal Equal Pay Act:

• Physical strength is excluded from the comparison. An employer cannot justify a pay gap by pointing to a strength requirement in one of two otherwise comparable jobs.
• The defenses are a closed list. Under SDCL 60-12-16, differences are allowed only when paid under "established seniority systems, job descriptive systems, merit increase systems, or executive training programs" that do not discriminate by sex. The federal Act, by contrast, also allows "a differential based on any other factor other than sex" (Equal Pay Act, 29 U.S.C. 206(d)(1)). Prior salary is not a listed defense in South Dakota.

The rest of the chapter: employers of more than 25 people must keep records of wages, wage rates and job classifications for "a reasonable period of time" (SDCL 60-12-17); an employer that violates the statute is liable for the unpaid wages, and the court may add attorney fees and costs, without limiting a claim under the Human Relations Act (SDCL 60-12-18); and threatening or retaliating against an employee who brings or supports a claim is barred (SDCL 60-12-21).

The practical effect on hiring is the same advice we give elsewhere, with more force: set a starting rate from a pay band, the job description and documented experience, not from what the candidate earned before, and ask about expectations instead of history. Wording is in salary expectation questions.

Who does the Human Relations Act cover?

The Act's definition of employer in SDCL 20-13-1 has no headcount floor. It covers "any person within the State of South Dakota who hires or employs any employee," and any person "wherever situated" who employs someone whose services are performed partly or wholly in South Dakota. That second half matters for out-of-state companies hiring remote workers in the state.

SDCL 20-13-10 makes it an unfair or discriminatory practice to treat "any person, employee, or intern" unequally with respect to application, hiring, promotion, "compensation," or any term or condition of employment because of race, color, creed, religion, sex, ancestry, disability or national origin. Pay at hire is "compensation," so an inconsistent offer is a Human Relations Act question as well as an equal pay one.

Which federal rules apply in South Dakota?

Three federal points complete the picture. First, most private-sector employees may discuss their pay: the NLRB says workers "have the right to communicate with their coworkers about their wages" and that rules banning it are unlawful (NLRB). Second, the EEOC applies the Equal Pay Act to virtually all employers, with Title VII, the ADEA and the ADA covering pay discrimination on their own grounds. Third, the federal contractor pay transparency rule no longer exists: Executive Order 14173 revoked Executive Order 11246 on January 21, 2025, and the Labor Department removed its regulations, including 41 CFR 60-1.35, effective October 26, 2026 (91 FR 54444). What still applies to contractors is in job posting requirements for federal contractors.

When does Minnesota's posting law reach a South Dakota job?

Sioux Falls is close to the Minnesota line, and many South Dakota employers run sites, clinics or branches across the line. Minnesota's rule, in force since January 1, 2025, is the one to watch.

Minnesota's statute does not say how it treats remote roles or jobs outside Minnesota; our Minnesota guide explains the open questions. A remote posting open to candidates nationwide is a separate problem: Colorado, Washington, New York and other posting states have their own tests, covered in pay transparency for remote jobs.

How should a South Dakota recruiter handle pay in practice?

1. Sort each requisition at intake: South Dakota only, a Minnesota site, or remote. Only the last two can carry another state's posting duty.
2. Build the range before the ad. With no catch-all defense in SDCL 60-12-16, a documented band or job description system is what holds a starting rate together; see how to set salary ranges for job postings.
3. Give the range on the first call even when the ad has none, then ask what the candidate is looking for.
4. Keep records of how each offer was set if you employ more than 25 people.
5. Agencies should collect the client's range and Minnesota headcount at intake; state agency rules are in staffing agency license in South Dakota, and a checklist is in pay transparency for staffing agencies.

Example only, with example figures: a Sioux Falls health system with 60 employees at clinics in Luverne and Worthington, Minnesota, posts a medical assistant job for Luverne as "$19.50 to $23.00 an hour, medical, dental, retirement plan, tuition help." Its Sioux Falls posting for the same job may omit pay under state law, but putting the Sioux Falls range in the ad avoids two candidates comparing notes and finding unexplained gaps. For screening rules, see background check laws in South Dakota and E-Verify requirements in South Dakota.

What do Indeed and Google do with pay?

Job boards fill the gap the law leaves. Indeed's employer help page accepts an exact amount, a range, a starting amount or a maximum, and displays pay in search results, job descriptions and company pages. Google's job posting structured data guide lists baseSalary as a recommended property. For Minnesota postings, "Up to $23.00" is open ended and does not comply.

South Dakota pay rules at a glance