California regulates hiring more comprehensively than any other state we cover — mandatory pay ranges, a salary-history ban, fair-chance hiring, and two separate regulatory regimes governing AI-driven screening and ranking tools.
Overview
California regulates more of the hiring process by statute than almost any other state — what a job posting must disclose, what a recruiter can and can't ask, and now, how an employer can use AI to screen or rank candidates. None of these rules are exotic edge cases: they apply to routine, everyday recruiting activity, and several carry real per-violation penalties. Here's what actually applies, sourced directly from the statutes and agency guidance, not secondhand summaries.
What applies
California's hiring-compliance rules, one by one.
Pay Transparency
In Effect · 2023-01-01
Employers with 15+ employees must include the pay scale — an hourly or salary range — directly in every job posting, including remote roles that could be filled by a California resident. A link or QR code pointing to the range elsewhere doesn't satisfy the requirement. Any employer, regardless of size, must also provide the pay scale for a position to an applicant on reasonable request, and to a current employee for their own position.
For a recruiting workflow: Job-requisition workflows for any California-eligible posting need a required pay-range field that blocks publishing until filled — link-only or QR-code workarounds don't comply.
California doesn't require private employers to use E-Verify — instead, it restricts misuse. Employers can't use E-Verify to check an existing employee's status, or an applicant's before a job offer is extended, except where federal law or funding requires it. Any tentative-nonconfirmation notice from E-Verify must be promptly passed on to the affected worker, and violations carry a civil penalty of up to $10,000.
For a recruiting workflow: Gate any E-Verify step to run only after a conditional offer is extended — never pre-offer, and never on an existing employee outside a federal-mandate exception.
Under the Fair Chance Act, employers with 5+ employees can't ask about an applicant's conviction history before extending a conditional job offer. If the employer later wants to deny employment based on a conviction discovered post-offer, it must run an individualized assessment and send a preliminary denial notice with at least 5 business days for the applicant to respond, followed by a final notice if the employer proceeds.
For a recruiting workflow: Criminal-history questions and background-check triggers should be suppressed until the conditional-offer stage, with the pre-adverse and final-adverse notices and response windows built into the rejection flow.
No California employer, regardless of size, may ask an applicant about prior salary or rely on salary history obtained from any source to decide whether to make an offer or how much to pay. If a candidate volunteers salary history without being asked, the employer may consider it — but can't solicit it in the first place. Employers remain free to ask about salary expectations.
For a recruiting workflow: Remove any "current or prior salary" field from California application forms, and flag any voluntarily-disclosed figure in the record as unsolicited rather than requested.
California regulates AI hiring tools through two separate, overlapping regimes. The Civil Rights Council's automated-decision-system regulations make clear that using AI to screen, rank, or otherwise decide on candidates can itself violate the state's anti-discrimination law if it produces a disparate impact — and require 4 years of retention for related records. Separately, the California Privacy Protection Agency's rules under the CCPA/CPRA give applicants a right to notice before an automated tool is used on them, and a right to ask how it affected the outcome, for hiring decisions specifically.
For a recruiting workflow: AI resume-screening or candidate-ranking features used on California candidates should support documented bias testing with a 4-year audit trail, a pre-use notice to the candidate, and a way to explain how the tool affected a given decision.
Unlike Florida, Washington, or a handful of other states, California has no standalone statute that specifically regulates SMS/text-message recruiting beyond the federal TCPA. Recruiting texts in California are governed by the federal TCPA's 8am–9pm local-time window, and courts have generally held that genuine recruiting messages aren't "advertisements" under that framework. A separate California rule restricts autodialed prerecorded-voice calls to a slightly narrower 9am–9pm window, but that rule doesn't extend to text messages.
For a recruiting workflow: Default to the federal TCPA's 8am–9pm recipient-local-time window with documented consent and an opt-out for California recruiting texts — no separate California-specific SMS rule applies.
A multi-state staffing firm opens a California requisition
A staffing firm based in Texas posts a remote role open to California applicants. Before it can go live, the posting needs a real pay range, not a link to one. The intake form can ask about desired salary, but not prior pay. If the role uses AI to rank incoming resumes, candidates need a notice that an automated tool is involved. If a background check turns up a conviction, the firm can't act on it without an individualized assessment and a notice period — and none of this can be asked about before a conditional offer goes out. None of these are edge cases; they apply to this one ordinary requisition, all at once.
Does every California job posting need to show a salary range?
If the employer has 15 or more employees, yes — every posting for a role that could be performed in California, including remote roles, needs a real pay scale in the posting itself, not behind a link or QR code. Smaller employers don't have to post a range, but must still provide one to an applicant who asks.
Can a California employer require E-Verify for new hires?
Nothing in California law requires it. What California law does is restrict how E-Verify can be used: not on existing employees, and not on an applicant before a conditional offer, except where federal law or funding requires it — with a real penalty (up to $10,000) for misuse.
When can a California employer ask about a candidate's criminal record?
Not before a conditional offer of employment. If the employer wants to deny employment based on a conviction found afterward, it has to do an individualized assessment and give the candidate a real chance to respond before finalizing the decision.
Does California regulate AI resume screening or candidate ranking tools?
Yes, through two separate regimes. Civil Rights Council rules treat a discriminatory outcome from an AI hiring tool as a potential civil-rights violation and require record retention, while separate privacy-agency rules give candidates a right to notice and explanation when an automated tool is used in a hiring decision.
Are there special California rules for recruiting text messages?
No California-specific statute was found beyond the federal TCPA — California doesn't have its own "mini-TCPA" the way a few other states do. The federal 8am–9pm local-time consent rule is the applicable standard.
Is this page legal advice for hiring in California?
No. It's an educational summary of publicly available California statutes and regulations as of the review date above, intended to help recruiting teams understand what applies to routine hiring activity. Confirm current requirements with your own employment counsel before changing a hiring process.
This page provides educational information about California hiring laws as of the review date above — it is not legal advice. Confirm current requirements with your own employment counsel before changing a hiring process. Last reviewed 2026-09-20.
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