The steady rollout of pay transparency laws across U.S. states and cities continued in 2025, with at least six such laws taking effect this year alone and a seventh — Delaware — set to begin in late 2027.

Lawmakers nationwide enacted pay transparency laws in the past decade that share some similarities while containing wrinkles that vary by jurisdiction. HR Dive spoke with management-side attorneys for better insight on how employers can sharpen their compliance efforts.

1. Know where your workforce is

Multistate compliance frequently proves a challenge in HR, but employers might not realize they are obligated to comply with certain pay transparency laws, according to Kristi Nelson Foy, shareholder at Ogletree Deakins.

That’s because some of the laws apply to employers that advertise any remote-work positions capable of being performed by candidates in a given jurisdiction. Colorado’s Equal Pay for Equal Work Act, for example, applies to any employer that employs at least one person in the state, which could serve as a compliance trigger for organizations with remote workforces.

A good place to start then may just be to ensure HR knows where employees are physically located, Foy said. This can be accomplished in part by running an employee census on an annual or more frequent basis.

2. Create a ‘pay philosophy’

Employers also may want to consider creating and adopting what other compensation experts have called a “pay philosophy,” which encompasses the employer’s strategy for determining workers’ initial pay as well as pay for performance.

Those in charge of setting pay may consider several factors, including a candidate’s skills, education and training, and how each influences placement on a given pay band. To aid in this work, Foy said employers should seek market research that allows them to benchmark those pay bands against what competitors offer.

It’s also important to both ensure pay parity between workers who hold the same job titles, as well as determine which pay bracket on a given pay scale the employer is comfortable paying. For instance, an employer may not have the financial resources to pay at the top end of the market for a given role, Foy said, but it might be more feasible to pay within the 50th or 70th percentile of the market.

“Make that decision, and ensure you’re consistently enforcing that range,” Foy added. “That, in turn, will also help establish the pay bands that you are going to put onto your job postings.”

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