Hawaii Pay Transparency Law: What Employers Must Know

Governor Josh Green signed S.B. 1057 into law as Act 203 on July 3, 2023, adding a pay transparency requirement to Hawaii Revised Statutes chapter 378 and expanding the state’s equal pay protections. The posting requirement took effect January 1, 2024. Among the states with active posting laws, Hawaii sits at the permissive end on coverage — 50 or more employees — but its “reasonably reflects” standard puts real teeth into what the posted range must look like.

Quick facts

Law

Act 203 (S.B. 1057, 2023), amending HRS ch. 378

Signed

July 3, 2023 (Gov. Josh Green)

Effective date

January 1, 2024

Employer threshold

50 or more employees (part-time employees count; the law does not specify they must be in Hawaii)

Required: salary range

Yes — hourly rate or salary range that reasonably reflects actual expected compensation

Required: benefits

No

Excluded

Internal transfers and promotions; public positions set by collective bargaining

Applies to remote roles

Not expressly addressed — treat as ambiguous

Penalty

No posting-specific fine schedule — HCRC complaint process under ch. 378

Enforced by

Hawaii Civil Rights Commission

The “reasonably reflects” standard

Act 203 does not just require arange — it requires an hourly rate or salary range that “reasonably reflects the actual expected compensation” for the role. The Hawaii Civil Rights Commission’s FAQ makes the point bluntly: a range of $1 to $1,000,000 is not reasonable. An implausibly wide range designed to technically satisfy the law is itself a violation.

In practice this is the same good-faith discipline other states demand: anchor the posted range to your actual pay scale, budget, or what you have paid for equivalent roles, and be ready to explain the basis.

Who is covered — and the 50-employee question

The requirement applies to employers with 50 or more employees, and part-time employees count toward the total. Notably, the HCRC’s own FAQ acknowledges the law does not specify whether those 50 employees must be located in Hawaii. A mainland company with a small Hawaii office should assume its total headcount triggers coverage rather than bet on a narrow reading.

The law expressly excludes internal transfers and promotions within a current employer, so internal-only postings need not carry a range. It also excludes public-employee positions whose compensation is set by collective bargaining.

Remote roles: the statute is silent

Neither the statute nor the HCRC FAQ addresses remote positions workable from Hawaii. That leaves a gap: a nationwide remote posting from a 50-plus-employee company might or might not be covered. Given that the same posting is likely already subject to Colorado, Washington, or California rules, the practical answer is to include a compliant range — silence in one statute is not a safe harbor when a dozen others can reach the posting.

How enforcement works

Hawaii did not attach a posting-specific fine schedule. Instead, violations run through the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission’s complaint process under chapter 378 — the same machinery used for discriminatory employment practices. For employers, the exposure is an investigation, remedial orders, and the reputational cost of a civil rights complaint, rather than a predictable per-posting dollar amount.

Frequently asked questions