Wisconsin pay transparency law: the 2025 range bills failed, salary history questions allowed (2026)

Wisconsin has no law that requires employers to put a pay range in job postings, as of October 2026. The two bills that would have done it, Senate Bill 488 and Assembly Bill 480, failed to pass on March 23, 2026, with no committee action recorded after referral. Wisconsin also goes the other way from most posting states on pay history: Wis. Stat. § 103.36 says an employer may ask about salary history and forbids local governments from banning the question. What still applies is Wisconsin's sex discrimination rule on pay, the federal Equal Pay Act and Title VII, the federal right to discuss pay, and the posting laws of Illinois and Minnesota when a job reaches into those states.

Does Wisconsin require a salary range in job postings?

No. Nothing in the Wisconsin Statutes tells an employer what a job advertisement must say about pay. A Wisconsin employer may post without a range, and a candidate who asks has no state-law right to an answer. The rest of the state's hiring rules are in our guide to hiring employees in Wisconsin.

What would SB 488 and AB 480 have required?

The bills were identical. According to the Legislative Reference Bureau's analysis of SB 488, they would have created a new section 103.44 requiring "all job postings made by employers or third parties on behalf of employers" to include the minimum and maximum salary or hourly pay, based on the employer's good-faith estimate, and the other benefits available, such as health insurance and retirement benefits. Records of each listing would have been kept for at least two years. Enforcement was graduated:

Third parties posting for an employer would have faced the same penalties, and each failure would have counted as a separate violation. SB 488 was introduced October 2, 2025 and referred to the Senate Committee on Government Operations, Labor and Economic Development; AB 480 was introduced October 9, 2025 and referred to the Assembly Committee on Workforce Development, Labor, and Integrated Employment. Both records end with "Failed to pass pursuant to Senate Joint Resolution 1" on March 23, 2026. The bills are worth reading because a future version is likely to start from the same text, and the third-party clause would reach staffing agencies directly.

Can Wisconsin employers ask about salary history?

Yes, and the state has said so in statute. Wis. Stat. § 103.36(1), created by 2017 Wisconsin Act 327, reads: "An employer may solicit information regarding the salary history of prospective employees." Subsection (2) declares this a matter of statewide concern, and subsection (3) says no city, village, town or county "may enact or enforce an ordinance prohibiting an employer from soliciting information regarding the salary history of prospective employees," and that any such ordinance in effect on April 18, 2018 "does not apply and may not be enforced."

That settles the local question for pay history. Section 103.36 does not mention pay range postings, so it does not by itself stop a city from trying a posting rule. Being allowed to ask is not the same as being wise to ask on a multistate desk, though. Many states restrict pay history questions, and a single screening script that asks about expectations is easier to keep compliant; see salary history ban states and salary expectation questions.

What does Wisconsin's pay discrimination law cover?

The Wisconsin Fair Employment Act treats unequal pay as sex discrimination. Wis. Stat. § 111.36(1)(a) includes "discriminating against any individual in promotion, compensation paid for equal or substantially similar work, or in terms, conditions or privileges of employment" on the basis of sex where sex is not a bona fide occupational qualification. The words "substantially similar" set a broader comparison than the federal Equal Pay Act's "equal work," which matters when an employer uses salary history to set pay and the history carries an old gap into the new job.

Which federal rules apply to Wisconsin employers?

• Equal Pay Act and Title VII. The EEOC's equal pay page says jobs compared under the Equal Pay Act "need not be identical, but they must be substantially equal," and that the Act covers virtually all employers; Title VII and the ADA prohibit pay discrimination at 15 or more employees.
• Pay discussions. The NLRB lists "openly talking about your pay and benefits" among the concerted activities the National Labor Relations Act protects for most private-sector employees, whatever state law says about history questions.
• Federal contractors. The OFCCP pay transparency provision, 41 CFR 60-1.35, is not in force. Executive Order 14173 revoked Executive Order 11246, its basis, 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 Minnesota rules reach a Wisconsin job?

Illinois

820 ILCS 112/10(b-25) requires employers with 15 or more employees to include the pay scale and benefits in any specific job posting for a position performed "at least in part, in Illinois" or performed elsewhere when "the employee reports to a supervisor, office, or other work site in Illinois." A Kenosha or Racine employer that sends staff to an Illinois site, or a Milwaukee remote worker whose manager sits in Chicago, is covered. A third party that posts the job is liable for a missing range unless the employer did not supply it. See the Illinois guide.

Minnesota

Minn. Stat. § 181.173 applies to an employer "that employs 30 or more employees at one or more sites in Minnesota." Such an employer must disclose in each posting "the starting salary range, and a general description of all of the benefits and other compensation," must list a fixed rate if it does not offer a range, and may not post an open-ended range. A Hudson or River Falls company with a Twin Cities office of that size should treat its Minnesota postings as covered. See the Minnesota guide.

For roles open to candidates in many states, the remote jobs guide sets out how each state's coverage test works.

What should recruiters and staffing agencies hiring in Wisconsin do?

1. Treat Illinois and Minnesota links as the trigger. At intake, ask where the hire will work and where the manager sits; that decides whether a range is legally required.
2. Post ranges anyway when you can. Candidates compare your ad with ads from employers in posting states, and a missing range reads as a low one. Build the range from real data; see how to set salary ranges for job postings.
3. Decide your salary history policy deliberately. Wisconsin allows the question, but using the answer to set pay can carry an old gap into your payroll, which Wis. Stat. § 111.36 and the Equal Pay Act do not excuse.
4. Agencies: get the client's range in writing. Illinois already holds third parties liable, and the failed Wisconsin bills would have done the same. Wisconsin agency licensing is in staffing agency license in Wisconsin.
5. Keep pay-secrecy rules out of handbooks and offer letters.

Example only: a Green Bay manufacturer posts a maintenance technician role at $29 to $34 an hour. Wisconsin does not require the range. The same company's identical opening at a plant in Rockford, Illinois must show the pay scale and benefits, so keeping one template with the range in it is simpler than two.

Wisconsin pay rules at a glance

A Wisconsin posting checklist

WISCONSIN POSTING CHECKLIST (as of October 2026)

[ ] Any Illinois worksite, work days or manager? Pay scale + benefits
[ ] 30+ employees at Minnesota sites and a Minnesota posting?
    Starting range or fixed rate + benefits, never open ended
[ ] Remote role: check each state the ad is open to
[ ] Wisconsin-only role: range optional; have one ready
[ ] Salary history: allowed in Wisconsin, restricted in many other
    states; pick one expectations script for multistate desks
[ ] Offer reason written down (range, placement, approver)
[ ] Agency: client's range and benefits received in writing