Maryland’s Wage Range Transparency Act has been in effect since October 1, 2024, and most Maryland employers are still operating with hiring processes that satisfy the visible posting requirement but miss the supporting obligations. A Maryland business law attorney conducting a hiring practices audit in 2026 typically finds that the salary range made it onto LinkedIn and the careers page, but the recruiter scripts still ask about wage history, the third-party staffing partners stripped the disclosure from their listings, and the three-year recordkeeping process never got set up. Each gap is its own compliance exposure, and the Maryland Department of Labor’s enforcement scheme assesses penalties per affected employee or applicant, which scales quickly across multiple postings.
What SB 525 actually requires
The Wage Range Transparency Act, codified at Md. Code Ann., Lab. & Empl. § 3-304.2, amended Maryland’s Equal Pay for Equal Work Law. The statute applies to all employers, public and private, regardless of size. There is no small-business threshold.
The Act imposes five obligations:
- Include the wage range in every public or internal job posting for a position that will be physically performed, at least in part, in Maryland
- Include a general description of benefits and any other compensation offered for the position
- If no posting is made available to an applicant, affirmatively disclose the same information before any discussion of compensation and at any other time on request
- Continue to comply with the existing wage-history inquiry prohibition under Maryland law
- Maintain records of compliance for three years after the position is filled or, if not filled, after the position was initially posted
The Maryland Department of Labor has published a sample disclosure form employers can use to satisfy the requirements.
What counts as a “wage range” in good faith
The Act defines wage range as the minimum and maximum hourly or salary wage for the position. The employer must set the range in good faith based on:
- The applicable pay scale
- A previously determined minimum and maximum pay for the position
- The pay of an individual holding a comparable position at the time the job is posted
- The budgeted amount for the position
Placeholder language like “DOE,” “competitive,” “negotiable,” or a single number with no range does not satisfy the Act. Ranges so wide they cannot be defended as good-faith estimates also fail.
What counts as a covered posting
The Act defines a posting as any “solicitation intended to recruit applicants for a specific available position.” That definition reaches:
- External job listings on the employer’s careers page, LinkedIn, Indeed, ZipRecruiter, Glassdoor, and industry-specific boards
- Postings placed through third-party recruiters or staffing firms
- Internal postings, including transfer and promotion opportunities
- Position descriptions used for any informal solicitation, including email outreach to a candidate
A posting is covered if the position will be physically performed at least in part in Maryland. Out-of-state employers accepting Maryland-based remote workers are subject to the Act, though the law omits language that would have reached jobs performed outside Maryland but reporting to a Maryland supervisor or office.
Differences from DC’s pay transparency law
Maryland and DC enacted overlapping but distinct frameworks. Employers operating in both jurisdictions cannot satisfy one with the other’s template.
- DC’s Wage Transparency Omnibus Amendment Act of 2023 (D.C. Code § 32-1451 et seq.) took effect June 30, 2024
- DC requires healthcare benefits disclosure before the first interview as a separate obligation; Maryland integrates the benefits language into the posting itself
- DC penalties run $1,000 / $5,000 / $20,000 per violation; Maryland penalties run a compliance order first, then $300 per affected person, then $600 per affected person for repeat violations within three years
- Both jurisdictions are enforced by their state-level labor or attorney general agencies, with no private right of action
- Maryland’s law applies only to positions physically performed at least in part in Maryland; DC’s covers any DC-based position
What a Maryland Business Law Attorney looks for in a SB 525 audit
A real-world audit on a Maryland employer’s hiring process surfaces the same gaps repeatedly:
- Live postings missing the wage range or using prohibited placeholders
- Wage ranges drafted too wide to defend as a good-faith estimate
- Third-party recruiter or staffing-firm postings stripping the salary information the employer provided
- Internal promotion and transfer announcements lacking the required disclosure
- Recruiter screening scripts still asking about current or prior compensation
- Application forms still containing wage history questions
- No three-year retention process for postings, applications, and recruitment communications
- No disclosure procedure for positions filled without a public posting
The Department of Labor expects the employer to demonstrate the process, not just the postings. Compliance is operational, not cosmetic.
Penalties and enforcement
Enforcement falls to the Maryland Department of Labor’s Employment Standards Service. The penalty structure escalates:
- First violation: Compliance order from MDOL requiring the employer to come into compliance
- Second violation: Civil penalty of up to $300 per affected employee or applicant
- Subsequent violations within three years: Civil penalty of up to $600 per affected employee or applicant
- Retaliation against an employee who asserts rights under the Act: separate civil penalty up to $1,000 per affected employee plus equitable relief including reinstatement and back pay
The Act does not create a private right of action. Affected employees and applicants file complaints with MDOL through the Wage and Labor Standards Enforcement Unit. Penalties compound across each non-compliant posting and each affected applicant, which produces real exposure for employers running 10 or 20 open requisitions at once.
Practical update steps
A Maryland employer that needs to come into compliance should:
- Audit every live posting on the careers page, LinkedIn, Indeed, and other external boards within 48 hours
- Update the job posting template to include a wage range field, benefits language, and other compensation disclosure
- Brief external recruiters and staffing firms in writing about Maryland’s requirements
- Remove wage history questions from application forms and recruiter screening scripts
- Build a three-year document retention process for postings, applications, and recruitment communications
- Create a parallel disclosure form for positions filled without a public posting
- Train managers on the rule against retaliation for wage discussions
Bottom line
SB 525 has been operational long enough that “we’re still working on it” stops being a defense. A consultation with a Maryland business law attorney can audit existing postings, recruiter practices, and document retention against the Act in one sitting, and surface the gaps before MDOL does. Useful background reading: the Maryland Department of Labor at labor.maryland.gov, including the Equal Work for Equal Pay Wage Range Transparency FAQ, and the statutory text at mgaleg.maryland.gov. Internal pages worth pairing with this post include a Maryland employment compliance checklist, a non-compete enforceability guide, and a fractional general counsel overview.
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