I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1599 

To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to require an employer providing 

an employment opportunity to disclose the wage range for such employment opportunity to employees and applicants for employment, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 14, 2023 

Ms. NORTON introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL 

To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to require an 

employer providing an employment opportunity to disclose the wage range for such employment opportunity 

to employees and applicants for employment, and for 

other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Salary Transparency 

5 Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PROHIBITIONS RELATING TO WAGE DISCLOSURES. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Fair Labor Standards Act of 

3 1938 (29 U.S.C. 201 et seq.) is amended by inserting 

4 after section 7 the following new section: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 8. REQUIREMENTS AND PROHIBITIONS RELATING TO 

6 WAGE DISCLOSURES. 

7 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—It shall be an unlawful practice 

8 for an employer to— 

9 ‘‘(1) fail or refuse to disclose, in any public or 

10 internal posting for an employment opportunity, the 

11 wage or wage range for such employment oppor12 tunity; 

13 ‘‘(2) in any case in which a public or internal 

14 posting for an employment opportunity has not been 

15 made available to an applicant for such employment 

16 opportunity, fail or refuse to disclose to such appli17 cant the wage or wage range for such employment 

18 opportunity prior to discussing compensation with 

19 the applicant and at any time upon the applicant’s 

20 request; 

21 ‘‘(3) fail or refuse to disclose to an employee 

22 the wage or wage range for the employee’s position 

23 upon hire and at least annually thereafter and at 

24 any time upon the employee’s request; or 

25 ‘‘(4) refuse to interview, hire, promote, or em26 ploy an employee or applicant for employment, or in 


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1 any other manner retaliate against an employee or 

2 applicant for employment, for exercising any rights 

3 under this section. 

4 ‘‘(b) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘wage 

5 range’, with respect to an employment opportunity, means 

6 the range of wages, or salaries and other forms of com7 pensation, that the employer providing such employment 

8 opportunity anticipates in good faith relying on in setting 

9 the pay for such employment opportunity. Such term may 

10 include reference to any applicable pay scale, previously 

11 determined wage range for the position, the actual wage 

12 range for those currently holding equivalent positions, or 

13 the budgeted amount for the position, as applicable. For 

14 the purposes of subsection (a)(3), such term may include 

15 reference to any applicable pay scale, previously deter16 mined wage range for the position, or the wage range for 

17 incumbents in equivalent positions, as applicable.’’. 

18 (b) PENALTIES.—Section 16 of such Act (29 U.S.C. 

19 216) is amended by adding at the end the following new 

20 subsection: 

21 ‘‘(f)(1) Any person who violates the provisions of sec22 tion 8 shall— 

23 ‘‘(A) be subject to a civil penalty of $5,000 for 

24 a first violation, increased by an additional $1,000 


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1 for each subsequent violation, not to exceed $10,000; 

2 and 

3 ‘‘(B) be liable to each employee or applicant for 

4 employment who was the subject of the violation for 

5 statutory damages between $1,000 and $10,000, or 

6 actual damages, whichever is greater, plus reason7 able attorneys’ fees, and shall be subject to such in8 junctive relief as may be appropriate. 

9 ‘‘(2) An action to recover the liability described in 

10 paragraph (1)(B) may be maintained against any em11 ployer (including a public agency) in any Federal or State 

12 court of competent jurisdiction by any one or more em13 ployees or applicants for employment for and on behalf 

14 of— 

15 ‘‘(A) the employees or applicants for employ16 ment; and 

17 ‘‘(B) other employees or applicants for employ18 ment similarly situated.’’. 

Æ 


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