Compliance — Vermont

Vermont pay transparency compliance.

Coverage thresholds, what has to be disclosed, by when, and what happens if it isn’t — for employers with people in Vermont.

Vermont

What Vermont actually requires

Vermont catches employers at five employees, exempts verbal and general “now hiring” announcements, and — unusually — gives individuals no way to enforce it themselves.

Act 155 (H.704) — 21 V.S.A. § 495m

Compensation in advertisements

Effective 1 July 2025. Five or more employees, at least one of whom works in Vermont.

Disclose
The compensation or range — minimum and maximum annual salary or hourly wage the employer in good faith expects to pay at the time it creates the ad
Variants
Commission-only: state that compensation is commission-based, no range required. Tipped roles: disclose the tipped nature and the range of base wages
What counts
A written notice in any format for a specific job opening made available to multiple applicants
Excluded
General “now hiring” announcements not identifying a specific position, and verbal announcements — radio, TV, in person
Enforcement

Attorney General only

The Civil Rights Unit of the Vermont Attorney General’s office, or a State’s Attorney.

Private claim
No. The AG guidance states expressly that Act 155 does not give individuals the right to go to court to enforce it
Remedies
Civil penalties and restitution. Dollar amounts are not stated in the AG guidance or the alerts we reviewed
Reach
Remote workers physically located in Vermont, and remote roles reporting to a Vermont office
Flexibility
An employer may hire outside the posted range for reasons outside its control — applicant qualifications, labour market factors
In detail

The parts that catch employers out

The verbal-announcement carve-out is narrower than it looks

Radio, television and in-person announcements are excluded, as are general “now hiring” notices that do not identify a specific position. Everything written and position-specific is in scope, in any format — which includes a LinkedIn post, an email to a distribution list, and a notice on a staff board.

Organisations that rely on informal internal circulation for programme roles are usually inside the requirement without realising it.

No private right of action changes the risk shape, not the obligation

Vermont’s guidance is unusually explicit: individuals cannot sue. Enforcement is the Attorney General’s Civil Rights Unit, with civil penalties and restitution at amounts the guidance does not specify.

That removes the class-action dynamic seen in Washington. It does not remove the underlying exposure — a published range that does not match what incumbents earn is still evidence in a discrimination claim brought on other grounds.

Getting ready

A workable sequence

We support Vermont employers on the compensation side — pay equity analysis, range architecture, and how executive pay reads inside a filing or a published range. We are not attorneys and this page is not legal advice; anything marked unverified above should be confirmed with employment counsel before you act on it.

For advisory work in the region see our Burlington executive compensation page.

Common questions

Vermont pay compliance

Which Vermont employers must include pay in job ads?

Employers with five or more employees, at least one of whom works in Vermont, since 1 July 2025. It covers written, position-specific advertisements in any format, and reaches remote workers physically located in Vermont as well as remote roles reporting to a Vermont office.

Can an employee sue under Vermont's Act 155?

No. The Vermont Attorney General's guidance states expressly that Act 155 does not provide individuals with the right to go to court to enforce it or seek remedies. Enforcement runs through the AG's Civil Rights Unit or a State's Attorney.

Does Vermont pay law apply to remote workers?

Generally yes where the role could be performed in Vermont or reports into a Vermont supervisor, office or worksite. The specifics vary — some statutes test on where work is performed, others on the reporting line, and several reach out-of-state employers recruiting locally-based remote staff.

Is this page legal advice?

No. It is a compensation practitioner's summary of published requirements, current as at July 2026, intended to help scope the compensation work these obligations create. Items we could not verify are marked as such rather than glossed. Confirm current requirements with employment counsel before acting.

Get in touch

Get ahead of it.

Pay equity analysis and range architecture, sequenced so findings can be acted on rather than merely disclosed.

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