Employment Law

Fixed Pay Range

Quick Definition

A fixed pay range is a compensation disclosure with both a genuine minimum and maximum rate of pay that an employer reasonably expects to pay for a position at the time of posting — as opposed to an open-ended range with no stated ceiling.

What Is Fixed Pay Range?

A fixed pay range is a specific disclosure standard required under pay transparency laws in states such as Minnesota, where the statutory language explicitly calls for a range bounded on both ends. This directly forecloses a common workaround seen in job postings elsewhere: an open-ended range like 'starting at $60,000' or '$80,000+' with no stated ceiling, which discloses a floor but leaves the actual maximum entirely unstated.

Employers who have relied on unbounded range language in other states — either out of habit or as a way to avoid committing to a maximum figure — need to specifically revise their posting templates for fixed-pay-range jurisdictions to include a genuine ceiling. A general 'we already disclose salary ranges' assumption can miss this gap entirely if the underlying range language was never actually bounded on both ends to begin with.

As with the good-faith standard applied across most comparable state laws, a fixed pay range still needs to reflect what the employer genuinely expects to pay — a technically bounded range that's implausibly wide, spanning multiple job levels or an unreasonably large dollar spread, invites the same enforcement scrutiny seen in states with a more general 'good faith range' requirement, even though it satisfies the fixed-range structure's literal wording.

Building role-specific fixed pay ranges, rather than one wide band reused across many roles or levels, is the most durable way to satisfy this requirement without either under-disclosing or triggering scrutiny for an implausibly broad range — the range should be able to survive the question 'would you genuinely offer anyone in this posting anywhere from the floor to the ceiling shown.'

Why Fixed Pay Range Matters

Employers who have grown comfortable posting open-ended salary ranges in states without a fixed-range requirement need to specifically revise that language for jurisdictions like Minnesota — a range that's fully compliant elsewhere can still fail the fixed-range standard if it was never bounded on the top end.

Key Benefits

Removes the ambiguity of an open-ended range that tells candidates little about what they might actually be offered
Forces a genuine, defensible compensation decision to be made before a role is posted rather than left open-ended
Reduces the risk of noncompliance in states that specifically require a bounded range, not just a stated minimum
Improves candidate trust and application quality by giving a clear, honest picture of the role's actual pay ceiling
Simplifies internal compensation planning by forcing a genuine maximum to be set for every open requisition
Creates a defensible paper trail if a posted range is ever challenged as not reflecting a good-faith expectation

Common Use Cases

Auditing existing job posting templates for open-ended ranges before extending them to Minnesota-covered postings

Setting role-specific compensation bands with a genuine ceiling as part of annual compensation planning

Training recruiters and hiring managers to stop using 'starting at' language in states requiring a fixed range

Building a single job posting template that satisfies both a fixed-range state and a more general good-faith-range state

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a fixed pay range?

A fixed pay range is a compensation range with both a genuine minimum and maximum that an employer reasonably expects to pay for a position at the time of posting — required specifically under laws like Minnesota's, which explicitly bar open-ended ranges with no stated ceiling.

What's wrong with posting 'starting at $60,000' as a salary range?

An open-ended range with no stated maximum discloses a floor but tells a candidate nothing about the actual ceiling. Jurisdictions with a fixed-pay-range requirement, like Minnesota, specifically prohibit this format — a compliant posting needs both a genuine minimum and a genuine maximum.

Can a fixed pay range be too wide to be compliant?

Yes. Even a range with both a floor and ceiling still needs to reflect a genuine, good-faith expectation. A technically bounded range that spans multiple job levels or an implausibly large dollar spread can invite the same regulatory scrutiny applied to vague ranges under other states' good-faith-range standards.

Which states require a fixed pay range specifically?

Minnesota's pay transparency law, effective January 2025, specifically uses 'fixed pay range' language requiring both a minimum and maximum. Other states use a similar substantive standard under different statutory wording, such as a 'good faith range' requirement.