Virginia Remote Job Postings Must Show Pay Ranges

Do remote job postings in Virginia now have to include salary ranges

Yes. Beginning July 1, 2026, Virginia requires a wage or salary range in each public and internal posting for a job, promotion, transfer, or other employment opportunity. The statute covers the posting, not just the worksite, so a remote role posted for Virginia labor is not outside the rule just because no office appears on the listing.

The legal text says an employer must disclose the wage, salary, or wage or salary range for the position in each public and internal posting. Virginia’s Department of Labor and Industry says the same thing in plain English on its employment law update page. That is the current rule, and the date matters because the requirement starts on July 1, 2026, not before it.

The part people get wrong is assuming “remote” means “outside Virginia law.” The better question is whether the employer is making the posting for a Virginia job opportunity and hiring into Virginia. If the company is advertising a role that Virginia applicants can take, the safer reading is to include the range in the posting. Employers that post through recruiters or job boards should make sure every version of the ad carries the same range.

The law defines a wage or salary range as the minimum and maximum wage or salary for the position, set in good faith. That good faith language matters. A range cannot be a throwaway line pulled from nowhere, and it cannot be so broad that it stops telling applicants anything useful. The official Code of Virginia text says the range must be set by reference to a pay scale, prior range, current equivalent positions, or the budgeted amount available for the role.

Virginia’s own state hiring policy already shows the direction of travel. State job postings must include a hiring salary range, and recent state job listings do so in practice. That is not the same as the private-sector law, but it is useful context. The Commonwealth is already treating pay disclosure as a standard part of the posting, including remote and alternate work arrangements.

A concrete example helps. If a company posts “Senior Product Designer, Remote, Virginia applicants only,” the posting should include something like “$110,000 to $135,000” or another good-faith range. If the company posts the same role on its site, on LinkedIn, and through a recruiter, each version should carry the same pay range. Leaving the number off one version creates a compliance problem, even if the company planned to discuss pay later.

The inconvenient part is that salary disclosure is not the only rule that changed. Virginia also prohibits asking for wage or salary history and prohibits relying on salary history when setting pay. So a company cannot skip the range and then try to reconstruct compensation from a candidate’s past pay during interviews. That older hiring habit is exactly what the statute is trying to stop.

The law also creates risk for employers who wait until late in the process. If a recruiter screens candidates first and adds pay only after a shortlist is built, the posting itself may still be noncompliant. The practical fix is simple: decide the range before the job goes live, then publish the same range wherever the role appears. That is the step teams miss when a hiring manager wants to move fast.

If you are hiring for a Virginia remote role, the checklist is short. Set the range in good faith. Put it in the posting. Keep it in the internal version and any recruiter copy. Do not ask for salary history. If the role is posted as remote but is meant for Virginia candidates, treat it like any other Virginia job posting and disclose pay up front. The cleanest place to align your process is the posting template itself, not the interview loop.

For teams that already use structured job ads, this is mostly a formatting change. For teams that still write postings as short marketing blurbs, it is a process change. The law requires disclosure in the posting, so the posting has to carry the compensation information before candidates apply. If you need a place to keep your hiring workflow organized, you can also map the role details into a tracker like DevConnect, but the legal duty lives in the posting itself.

The safest answer is yes: remote job postings connected to Virginia should include salary ranges now, starting July 1, 2026. The rule is broad, the effective date is fixed, and the language is explicit. The mistake to avoid is treating remote work as a loophole. Virginia wrote the requirement into the posting rules, and the posting is where compliance starts.

What employers usually ask next

The law applies to public and internal postings, so companies should check their careers page, ATS templates, recruiter outreach copy, and any reposted ads. If the same role is reused across channels, each version should show the range.

The range has to be real, not decorative. Virginia says it must be set in good faith. A number added only to satisfy the form, without any basis in pay practice, creates the kind of problem that shows up later.

Remote roles with no fixed Virginia office still need careful handling. If the employer is advertising to Virginia applicants or hiring into Virginia, the clean practice is to disclose the range in the listing rather than wait for the interview stage.

Step-by-step compliance check

1. Confirm the role is being posted for Virginia hiring.
2. Set a minimum and maximum in good faith.
3. Put the range in every public and internal posting.
4. Remove salary-history questions from application and interview materials.
5. Check recruiter, ATS, and board reposts for the same language.
6. Keep the posting live only after the range is included.

When it goes wrong

The common failure is a “remote” listing that omits pay on the public job board but mentions it in a later recruiter call. That is backwards under the new rule. Another failure is using a wide placeholder range copied from a prior requisition without reviewing whether it reflects the actual budget. The law does not reward that shortcut.

Bottom line

Virginia now expects compensation disclosure in the posting itself. For remote jobs tied to Virginia hiring, the safe and current practice is to include the wage or salary range before the job goes live, not after screening begins.