Washington's pay-range job-posting mandate (EPOA, 2023) — transparency by statute, enforced through hundreds of applicant class actions

Since 1 January 2023, Washington's Equal Pay and Opportunities Act requires employers with 15 or more employees to disclose in every job posting the wage scale or salary range (a firm bottom and top, no 'and up' wording) and a general description of benefits.
Enforcement runs largely through applicants: from mid-2023 law-firm trackers report dozens, later hundreds, of putative class actions seeking statutory damages of the greater of actual damages or $5,000 per applicant.
In response, amendments effective 27 July 2025 require written notice before suit, let employers cure a posting within five business days without damages or penalties (cure provision expires 27 July 2027), and make statutory damages of $100 to $5,000 per violation the exclusive remedy. A State Supreme Court case on who counts as a bona fide applicant was pending.
Evidence caveat: none of the sources reviewed measures an effect on the gender pay gap, so this is documented as a cautionary example of design and enforcement trade-offs in posting-based pay transparency rather than a proven equality intervention.

Read the full analysis: https://www.buchalter.com/insights/class-action-alert-pay-transparency-class-actions-are-mounting-in-washington/