Pay Transparency Coming to Cleveland

Cleveland, Ohio, is the latest city to join the pay transparency trend. A new ordinance taking effect in October will require many city employers to include a salary range in job postings.

The ordinance applies to businesses that employ 15 or more employees within the City of Cleveland, except for certain public-sector employers. Covered employers must comply by October 27, 2025.

Under the ordinance, any notice, advertisement or other formal posting that offers the opportunity to apply for a job must contain a pay range.

The new law also restricts salary history inquiries. Employers may not:

• Inquire about a job applicant’s salary history;
  
• Screen an applicant based on their current or prior salary;
  
• Rely solely on a job applicant’s salary history in deciding whether to hire the applicant or determining their salary; or
  
• Refuse to hire or otherwise retaliate against an applicant for not disclosing their salary history.

Alleged violations of the ordinance will be evaluated by the Fair Employment Wage Board, which will investigate and provide notice to the employer. Employers will have a 90-day window to correct deficiencies. If violations are not remedied, an employer may face civil penalties up to:

• $1,000 for an employer with no previous violations within the past five years;
  
• $2,500 for an employer with one previous violation within the past five years; and
  
• $5,000 for an employer with two or more previous violations within the past five years.

Although a few other Ohio cities have enacted pay transparency and salary history ordinances, Cleveland’s law is the only one to require a pay range in job postings. Laws in Toledo and Cincinnati require employers to provide a pay scale upon request to an applicant who has received a conditional job offer.

Fourteen states and the District of Columbia, along with several localities, have enacted pay transparency laws, and proposed laws are currently pending in at least a dozen states.