Best Practices for Connecticut Employers: Wage Transparency, Recordkeeping, and Multistate Compliance

Connecticut’s wage‑range disclosure law has settled into the hiring routine—but there are a few 2025–2026 reminders worth folding into your process.

Remember: Coverage is broad. Any employer “within the state using the services of one or more employees for pay” is covered, and the law applies to remote applicants applying to a Connecticut employer, even if they’re outside the state’s physical borders.

And know that there are times that employers must provide certain information. For example, employers must give applicants the wage range upon the earliest of their request or before/at offer; give employees their range at hire, when the position changes, or upon first request.

“Wage range” can be anchored to an applicable pay scale, a previously set range, actual ranges for comparable incumbents, or the budgeted amount for the role—so long as it reflects what you reasonably expect to pay for the position.

Two enforcement notes for 2026. First, applicants and employees have a private right of action with a two‑year statute of limitations and potential compensatory, punitive, and attorneys’ fees remedies—so treat compliance as a must‑have, not a nice‑to‑have.

Second, while the Connecticut Department of Labor (CT DOL) cannot obtain individual damages, it does investigate complaints and may issue civil penalties against employers that violate the statute—another reason to standardize disclosures and keep records of what was provided and when.

Connecticut has not yet mandated salary ranges in job postings, but that could change. Multiple proposals would require wage ranges in postings, and committees have previously aired the issue; those bills would move Connecticut closer to posting‑disclosure regimes now in effect in states like Massachusetts, Vermont, Illinois, and New Jersey.

Multistate employers are increasingly adopting a “post the range everywhere” approach to simplify compliance and recruiter messaging across jurisdictions.

What Good Practice Looks Like Now

• Embed the real range early. Standardize templates so applicants receive the wage range automatically by the time of offer—or earlier on request—and employees get ranges at hire, change in position, or upon request, consistent with statute. In your offer letters, restate the range and document placement within it based on bona fide, job‑related factors (experience, skills, credentials, geography) to align with Connecticut’s equal‑pay‑for‑comparable‑work standard.
• Align your postings playbook. Even though Connecticut doesn’t yet require ranges in ads, consider including a good‑faith range plus a brief benefits summary in external and internal postings to harmonize with neighboring and peer states and reduce rework later if Connecticut acts.
• Strip salary‑history questions and train your team. Connecticut prohibits relying on prior wage history and protects open pay discussions; update forms, train interviewers, and reinforce that pay‑history questions are out while wage‑range disclosures are in.
• Keep proof. Maintain artifacts showing what range was shared and when (requisition, posting, screen, interview, offer, onboarding). If CT DOL investigates or a civil action is filed, contemporaneous documentation is your best defense on timing and content.

Bottom line: Connecticut’s law hasn’t radically changed, but expectations have, particularly as other states have adopted similar laws.

Deliver the wage range at the required touchpoints, train recruiters and managers on what to say (and not say), centralize your templates, and pair transparency with a documented comparable‑work equity review.

You’ll lower litigation and enforcement risk under Connecticut law while staying aligned with fast‑moving posting rules in nearby jurisdictions.