Do remote job postings in Delaware need salary ranges?

Do remote job postings in Delaware now need salary ranges

Yes for covered employers, but not yet for every posting. Delaware’s pay-range rule applies to noninternational remote jobs offered by Delaware-based employers with 26 or more employees, and it takes effect September 26, 2027.

The part people get wrong is the word now. The Delaware Code has a transparency section titled “Transparency in pay rates, employment, and advancement opportunities” that says an employer must include the hourly or salary compensation range when it announces, posts, or otherwise makes known a job opportunity. The same section states that for employers with 26 or more employees, it applies to jobs located in Delaware and noninternational remote positions offered by an employer based in Delaware.

The inconvenient part is the effective date. The statute shown in the Delaware Code page says § 709C is effective September 26, 2027. Until that date, that section is not the operative rule for job postings, even though the law has already been enacted and published in the code.

So the short answer is: if you are posting a remote job from a Delaware-based employer and you have 26 or more employees, expect salary-range disclosure to be required once the law takes effect on September 26, 2027. If you are under that employee threshold, this section does not apply. If the role is not a noninternational remote position offered by a Delaware-based employer, this Delaware provision is not the one that sets the rule.

Remote jobs are treated explicitly in the text. The code does not limit the requirement to jobs physically located in Delaware. It also reaches noninternational remote positions offered by a Delaware-based employer, which is the detail that catches teams posting nationally distributed roles from Delaware entities.

The salary range has to be a real range, not a placeholder. Delaware defines “hourly or salary compensation range” as the minimum to maximum pay range for the position, set in good faith by reference to a pay scale, a previously determined range for the position, the actual range for equivalent positions, or the budgeted amount for the position. A vague line like “competitive pay” does not satisfy that definition.

The law also requires more than pay. For covered job postings, the employer must include a general description of benefits and other compensation. That matters for remote roles because companies often publish the pay band but leave out health coverage, bonus structure, equity, or other compensation details that the statute requires alongside the range.

A practical example helps. A Delaware company with 80 employees posts a remote product manager role open to candidates anywhere in the United States. Under the statute’s wording, that is a noninternational remote position offered by a Delaware-based employer, so the posting falls inside the rule once the law is effective. The posting should include the pay range and the benefits summary, not just a link to discuss compensation later.

Another example shows the boundary. A small Delaware employer with 12 employees posts the same remote role. The statute says the section does not apply to an employer with 25 or fewer employees, so that employer is outside this Delaware posting rule. That headcount cutoff is the line that matters, not whether the job is remote, hybrid, or office-based.

People also confuse Delaware’s rule with other states’ pay-transparency laws. Those laws differ on coverage, employer size, and whether remote roles are included. For a Delaware-based employer, the clean reading is to check Delaware first for Delaware postings and Delaware-based remote roles, then check any other state that may regulate where the candidate can work or where the employer advertises. Delaware’s statute also protects third parties who repost job ads and says the employer is not liable for digitized reposts published without consent.

The enforcement risk is real. The code says violations can lead to civil penalties, with a first-offense range of $1,000 to $5,000 and higher penalties for later violations. For a hiring team, the practical risk is not just a fine. It is the cost of having to correct every affected posting, every repost, and every recruiter template that used the wrong language.

If you are writing a posting now for a role that will still be open in 2027, build the template as if the salary range is required. That is the safest way to avoid a last-minute rewrite. A clean posting includes the pay band, a short benefits summary, and a range that the team can defend as set in good faith. That is the standard the Delaware code sets for covered roles.

If you are screening existing templates, look for three failure points. First, the posting says only “competitive salary.” Second, the role is remote but the company assumed remote meant outside the law. Third, the role is posted by a Delaware employer with 26 or more employees, but the draft was built from an older template that never listed compensation. Those are the cases that turn into compliance work later.

For teams comparing this with federal or platform rules, the question here is narrower. Delaware’s statute is about what must appear in the job posting and who is covered by the Delaware rule. It is not the same as offer-stage disclosure, internal promotion policy, or salary discussions in interviews. The statute reaches the posting itself, and for covered remote jobs, that means the range belongs in the listing.

If you want a working checklist, use this order: confirm the employer has 26 or more employees, confirm the employer is based in Delaware, confirm the role is a noninternational remote position or a Delaware job, then add the good-faith pay range and benefits summary before posting. For teams that also recruit through DevConnect, keep the same posting text consistent there as well, but the legal rule still comes from Delaware law. DevConnect is separate from the statute and not a source of the requirement.

The bottom line is simple. Delaware now has a salary-range posting rule for covered jobs, and it explicitly includes noninternational remote positions offered by Delaware-based employers with 26 or more employees. The effective date is September 26, 2027, so the “now” part is about the law on the books, not a universal immediate posting duty today.