Virginia Job Postings Now Need Pay Ranges

Do Virginia job postings now need a pay range and can employers still ask salary history

Yes. Virginia now requires a good-faith wage or salary range in public and internal job postings, and employers cannot seek a prospective employee’s salary history, with narrow exceptions. The new rule is in effect for postings on and after July 1, 2026, so the date of the ad matters.

A posting is supposed to show the minimum and maximum wage or salary for the position, set in good faith. The Virginia Code defines that range by reference to a pay scale, a prior range for the role, pay for equivalent positions, or the budgeted amount available for the job. That definition matters because employers cannot invent a fake range just to satisfy the format.

The rule covers both public and internal postings. That is the part people miss most often, because many pay-transparency laws focus only on ads visible to the public. Virginia’s law says employers must disclose the wage or salary range in each public and internal posting for each job, promotion, transfer, or other employment opportunity.

Employers still can ask or confirm salary history only when the applicant volunteers it without prompting. In that case, the employer may rely on the information to support a higher offer, but only if the higher wage does not violate Virginia’s equal-pay law or federal law. The employer may also seek to confirm voluntarily provided history under the same limit.

The part people get wrong is thinking the law simply bans every question about past pay in every situation. Virginia’s current rule is narrower and more specific: the employer cannot seek wage or salary history from a prospective employee, cannot rely on it in deciding pay, and cannot retaliate against a person for not providing it or for asking about a wage range. Voluntary disclosure is the exception, not the norm.

The inconvenient part is that a range has to be real enough to withstand scrutiny. If an employer posts a range that does not reflect the actual pay structure or the budget for the role, the ad can still create risk. The statute ties the range to existing compensation logic, which means recruiters and hiring managers have to coordinate before posting, not after candidates start asking questions.

A practical example helps. If a company posts a software engineer role in Richmond on July 10, 2026, the ad should include a good-faith pay range in the posting itself. During interviews, the recruiter should not ask, “What did you make at your last job?” If the applicant volunteers their prior pay unprompted, the company can consider it only within the law’s limits.

Another mistake is treating an internal promotion or transfer as exempt because it is not a public job ad. Virginia does not carve out internal postings from the range requirement. If the opportunity is posted, the range goes in the posting, and the same salary-history restriction applies to the hiring process tied to that opportunity.

For employers, the clean process is simple. Set a real range before the job is posted, make sure the range is consistent with the budget and comparable roles, and remove salary-history questions from interview scripts and application forms. For applicants, the useful move is to compare the posted range to the market and ask directly about the pay band instead of trying to justify a prior salary.

If you are posting or applying through DevConnect, that same discipline is the right one there too, because the platform is built for straightforward hiring and testing work. The relevant question is not whether someone paid more or less before, it is whether the posted range and the role match what the employer is actually offering. https://devconnectplatform.com

The best single sentence answer is this: Virginia job postings now need a real pay range, and employers cannot ask for salary history unless the applicant volunteers it first and the employer stays within the law’s limits.

What employers must include in the posting

The posting must disclose the wage, salary, or wage or salary range for the position. Virginia’s statutory definition says the range is the minimum and maximum pay set in good faith, not a vague promise like “competitive salary” or a blank placeholder. If the employer uses a range, it needs to be tied to a genuine pay decision for that role.

Good faith does the real work here. The law points employers to existing compensation sources, such as a pay scale, a previously determined range, pay for equivalent positions, or the budgeted amount. That is the part that keeps the range from becoming a throwaway label. In practice, a hiring team should be able to explain why the posted range exists if challenged.

What employers cannot ask

Virginia’s rule prohibits seeking the wage or salary history of a prospective employee. It also bars relying on that history to decide what the person will be paid, and it bars retaliation for not providing salary history or for requesting a wage range. The cleanest reading is that the interview should focus on the role, the candidate, and the posted range.

The narrow exception is voluntary disclosure. If the applicant brings up prior pay without prompting, the employer may use that information only to support a higher offer and only if the result stays compliant with Virginia equal-pay rules and federal law. That exception does not reopen the door to routine salary-history screening.

What happens if a company gets it wrong

The risk is not just a bad candidate experience. Virginia’s statute creates a compliance obligation around the posting itself and around the hiring conversation that follows. A company that leaves out the range or keeps asking about prior pay after July 1, 2026, is out of step with the rule and should fix the process immediately.

For candidates, the signal to watch is simple. If a Virginia posting after July 1, 2026 does not show a real pay range, that is a problem worth flagging before you spend time on interviews. If a recruiter asks for salary history, the safer response is to steer the conversation back to the posted range and the pay you are being offered for the role.

Bottom line

Virginia now expects pay transparency in job postings and restricts salary-history questions in hiring. The two rules work together: the posting should show a real range, and the interview should not revolve around what the applicant earned somewhere else.