Tennessee pay transparency law: no posting rule, and what applies instead (2026)

Tennessee has no statewide law that requires private employers to put a pay range in job postings, as of October 2026, and no law that stops them from asking candidates about salary history. We found no such provision in the Tennessee Code and no 2025 or 2026 bill in the General Assembly that would add one. What does apply is the Tennessee Equal Pay Act, the federal Equal Pay Act and Title VII, the federal right of employees to discuss pay, and the posting laws of other states whenever a Tennessee employer hires for a job in, or reporting into, one of them. The nearest example is Virginia, which has required a range in every posting since July 1, 2026.

Does Tennessee require a salary range in job postings?

No. Tennessee's wage statutes in Title 50 of the Tennessee Code regulate how and when wages are paid and bar sex-based pay differences, but nothing in them tells an employer what a job advertisement must say about pay. There is no Tennessee equivalent of the posting rules in the states that require ranges, and no after-interview disclosure rule like Nevada's either.

The same is true for pay history. No Tennessee statute we found stops a private employer from asking what a candidate earns now or earned before, or from using the answer to set an offer. Our guide to hiring employees in Tennessee covers the rest of the state's hiring rules, including the absence of a private-employer ban-the-box law.

What does Tennessee law say about pay?

Tennessee's own pay rule is the Equal Pay Act, Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-2-201 and following. Section 50-2-202 bars an employer from paying an employee less than an employee of the opposite sex for comparable work requiring comparable skill, effort and responsibility under similar working conditions. Differences are allowed when they rest on a seniority system, a merit system, a system that measures earnings by quantity or quality of production, or another reasonable factor other than sex. An employer that finds an unlawful gap may not close it by cutting anyone's pay, and it may not retaliate against an employee who invokes the law.

That rule matters at the offer stage, not only during employment. If a recruiter sets a new hire's pay from the candidate's prior salary and that history carries an old sex-based gap into the new job, the employer still has to explain the difference with a lawful factor. Writing down the reason for each offer (the range, where the candidate's experience placed them in it, and who approved it) is the simplest defense.

Which federal rules apply to Tennessee employers?

• Equal Pay Act. The EEOC's equal pay page says the Act "requires that men and women in the same workplace be given equal pay for equal work," that the jobs "need not be identical, but they must be substantially equal," and that it covers virtually all employers.
• Title VII, the ADEA and the ADA. The same page notes these laws prohibit compensation discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age or disability; Title VII and the ADA apply at 15 or more employees.
• The right to talk about pay. The National Labor Relations Board lists "talking with one or more co-workers about your wages and benefits" among the concerted activities the National Labor Relations Act protects. A Tennessee handbook rule that forbids employees from sharing their pay invites a charge.
• Federal contractors. The OFCCP pay transparency provision, 41 CFR 60-1.35, which required contractors to tell employees and applicants they would not be penalized for discussing pay, is not in force. It rested on Executive Order 11246, which Executive Order 14173 revoked on January 21, 2025; the Department of Labor proposed rescinding the order's regulations in July 2025 (90 FR 28472), and its final rule (91 FR 54444, August 21, 2026) says the pay transparency provisions "are also part of this rescission," effective October 26, 2026. The NLRA protection above still covers most private-sector employees who discuss pay, contractor or not. See job posting requirements for federal contractors for what still applies.

When does another state's pay law reach a Tennessee posting?

The posting laws in other states turn on where the job is done or where it reports, not on where the employer is based. Three situations come up often for Tennessee employers and agencies.

Jobs in Virginia

Va. Code § 40.1-28.7:12, enacted as Chapters 996 and 1063 of the 2026 Acts of Assembly, makes it unlawful to fail to disclose the wage, salary or range "in each public and internal posting for each job, promotion, transfer, or other employment opportunity." The Virginia Department of Labor and Industry's July 1, 2026 summary says "all job postings and hiring advertisements in Virginia must include a wage or salary range." The same section bans asking applicants for pay history. A Kingsport or Johnson City company that also fills Bristol, Virginia roles needs two versions of its pay questions. See the Virginia pay transparency guide.

Remote roles that report to an Illinois office

Illinois covers a position that "will be physically performed, at least in part, in Illinois" or that is performed outside Illinois "but the employee reports to a supervisor, office, or other work site in Illinois," for employers with 15 or more employees (820 ILCS 112/10(b-25)). A Memphis-based remote hire who reports to a Chicago manager is covered.

Remote roles open to candidates anywhere

A national posting reaches candidates in every posting state at once. Each state's test differs; the guide to pay transparency for remote jobs sets out the three tests states use and how to post zone ranges.

What bills did Tennessee consider in 2025 and 2026?

We did not find a 2025 or 2026 Tennessee bill that would require pay ranges in postings or ban salary history questions. The closest pay-information bill of the 114th General Assembly was the Pay Stub Protection Act, SB 1257 / HB 1384 (2025), which would have required employers to give each employee a statement of earnings and deductions on every payday. The Senate bill was assigned to the General Subcommittee of the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee on March 18, 2025, and the House bill was recommended for passage if amended and referred to Government Operations on March 19, 2025. The record shows no later action, and neither became law.

What should recruiters and staffing agencies hiring in Tennessee do?

1. Decide where the job can be done before you write the ad. A Nashville-only role posted only for Tennessee needs no range under Tennessee law. A role open to remote candidates, or based in Virginia, may.
2. Get a real range at intake anyway. Candidates ask, and a recruiter who cannot answer loses them. Build it from the pay of people already in the role or the budget line; see how to set salary ranges for job postings.
3. Ask about expectations, not history, on any req that could be filled outside Tennessee. One script for every desk is easier than tracking which state allows the question; see salary expectation questions.
4. Agencies: get the client's range in writing. Illinois makes the third party that posts the job liable unless it can show the employer did not supply the range, and Washington's definition of a posting includes recruitment done "indirectly through a third party" (RCW 49.58.110). Agency licensing in Tennessee is covered in staffing agency license in Tennessee; the pay side is in pay transparency for staffing agencies.
5. Remove pay-secrecy language from offer letters and handbooks, and update federal contractor postings that still cite 41 CFR 60-1.35.

Example only: a Knoxville logistics employer posts "Operations supervisor, $58,000 to $66,000, Knoxville, on site." Tennessee does not require the range, but including it costs nothing, and the same ad can then be reused for a Bristol, Virginia opening without a rewrite.

Tennessee pay rules at a glance

A Tennessee posting checklist

TENNESSEE POSTING CHECKLIST (as of October 2026)

[ ] Where can the job be done? Tennessee only, or also remote / Virginia?
[ ] Tennessee-only role: range optional under state law, but have one ready
[ ] Role in Virginia: range in every public and internal posting
[ ] Remote role: check the posting law of each state it is open to
[ ] Reports to an Illinois supervisor or office: pay scale + benefits
[ ] Screen asks about expectations, not pay history, on multistate reqs
[ ] Reason for each offer written down (range, placement, approver)
[ ] No pay-secrecy rule in the handbook or offer letter
[ ] Agency: client's range received in writing before the ad runs