The Virginia pay transparency law is the story global employers cannot ignore this week. Governor Abigail Spanberger signed it in late April 2026, and it takes effect July 1, 2026. It forces salary ranges into every job posting, and it bans asking candidates for their pay history. Maine passed a similar rule days later. Meanwhile, the UK switched on a wave of day-one employment rights in April, India notified the central rules under all four of its labour codes, and the US rewrote how H-1B visas get handed out. If you hire across borders, your compliance calendar just got busier. Here is what changed, and what to do about it.

Virginia Pay Transparency Law Forces Salary Ranges Into Every Posting

What the pay transparency law changes

Virginia signed SB215 and HB636 into law in late April 2026. Both bills are identical, and both take effect July 1, 2026. Specifically, covered employers must disclose the wage or salary range in every public and internal job posting. For example, that includes postings for new hires, promotions, and transfers. The law also prohibits employers from seeking a candidate’s prior wage history. (Source: Morgan Lewis)

One detail makes this stricter than most state rules. There is no employer-size threshold. A two-person startup faces the same duty as a 5,000-person enterprise. (Source: Ogletree Deakins)

Why it matters for distributed teams

If you employ even one person in Virginia, this reaches you. Remote roles open to Virginia applicants count too. So a fully distributed team with no office still has to post ranges once a Virginia-based candidate can apply. The ranges must be set in good faith. In other words, you cannot post a band of $40,000 to $400,000 and call it compliant. Regulators can challenge a range that wide.

The penalties are real. An employer faces a civil penalty of up to $1,000 for a first violation, and up to $5,000 for any later one. The law also carries a private right of action, so individual workers can sue. However, there is a safety valve. For a posting that fails to include a range, you get 15 business days to fix it after notice before an action can proceed.

What to do before July 1

First, audit your job templates now. Every Virginia-eligible posting needs a defensible salary band by July 1, 2026. Second, scrub salary-history questions from your application forms and interview scripts. Third, document how you build each range, because good faith is the standard a court will test. If you hire in the US through a partner, confirm they have updated their posting workflow. For a refresher on US pay practices, review how US salary structures are built before you publish your next range.

UK Day-One Rights Are Now Live After the April Rollout

The UK Employment Rights Act 2025 began its phased rollout on April 6, 2026. Several changes are already in force. Statutory Sick Pay now starts from the first day of absence, because the three waiting days were abolished. The lower earnings limit was also removed, so SSP reaches all employees regardless of pay. In addition, statutory paternity leave and unpaid parental leave became day-one rights. (Source: GOV.UK)

Employers also picked up a new record-keeping duty. You must now keep records of annual leave entitlement and pay, and retain them for six years. (Source: Acas) So what does this mean for you? If you have anyone in the UK, your payroll and leave tracking need an update this quarter. Check that your UK employment law processes reflect day-one SSP. The bigger reform, unfair dismissal as a day-one right, lands January 1, 2027, so plan for it now.

India Notifies Central Rules Under All Four Labour Codes

India’s Ministry of Labour and Employment notified the central rules under all four labour codes on May 8, 2026. The package covers the Code on Wages, Social Security, Industrial Relations, and Occupational Safety. The codes themselves went live on November 21, 2025, and these rules now spell out the operational detail. (Source: DLA Piper)

In particular, the wage rules set how minimum and floor wages get fixed, plus working hours, rest periods, and deduction limits. Specifically, they also make principal employers liable when a contractor fails to pay the minimum bonus to contract labour. Therefore, if you run payroll in India, that liability shift matters. Confirm your contractor chain is paying correctly, and align your India payroll setup with the notified rules.

H-1B Selection Now Favors Higher Pay, Plus a $100,000 Fee

The US rewrote how cap-subject H-1B visas get picked. A final DHS rule, effective February 27, 2026, replaces the random lottery with a weighted process that favors higher-skilled and higher-paid roles. It applies from the FY 2027 cap season. (Source: USCIS) Separately, the Department of Labor proposed a new prevailing-wage methodology for H-1B and PERM. (Source: US DOL)

There is also a $100,000 payment now attached to certain new H-1B petitions for workers outside the US, under a September 2025 proclamation. For founders, the takeaway is blunt. Sponsoring junior overseas talent into the US just got far more expensive and less certain. As a result, many teams will hire those workers in their home country instead. An employer of record can hire in the US or abroad without you setting up an entity.

Quick Hits

• Maine pay transparency, LD 54: Employers with 10 or more workers must post pay ranges. The law takes effect July 29, 2026, and requires pay-history records for three years after separation. (Source: Littler)
• US IRS 2026 W-2: Box 12 adds codes TP for cash tips and TT for qualified overtime, and Box 14 splits into 14a and 14b for tipped-occupation codes. (Source: HRMorning)
• UK Fair Work Agency: The new enforcement body was established on April 7, 2026, and will inspect and enforce core employment rights. (Source: GOV.UK)

Action Items This Week

If you hire in Virginia: Add a good-faith salary range to every job posting before July 1, 2026, and delete salary-history questions. The Virginia pay transparency law applies even if you only have remote roles open to Virginia applicants.

If you hire in Maine: Check headcount. At 10 or more employees, post ranges by July 29, 2026, and start retaining pay-history records.

If you hire in the UK: Update payroll to pay SSP from day one, and confirm leave records are retained for six years.

If you hire in India: Verify contractor minimum-bonus payments, because principal employers now carry that liability under the notified wage rules.

If you sponsor US visas: Re-model your FY 2027 hiring plan around weighted H-1B selection and the $100,000 fee. For comparison, the India labour law guide shows why home-country hiring often costs less.

Where Asanify Fits

In short, pay transparency rules, day-one rights, and visa shake-ups all hit the same place: your payroll and compliance stack. Asanify’s Global HRMS and EOR handle multi-country payroll, statutory records, and posting compliance in one system. If this week’s changes have you rechecking every country you hire in, that single view is worth a look.

FAQ: Pay Transparency and Global Hiring Rules

Does the Virginia pay transparency law apply to remote jobs?
Yes. If a remote role is open to applicants in Virginia, the posting must include a good-faith salary range. The law has no employer-size threshold, so even small distributed teams are covered once a Virginia candidate can apply.

What is the penalty for not posting a salary range in Virginia?
The civil penalty is up to $1,000 for a first violation and up to $5,000 for later ones. For a missing range, an employer gets 15 business days to correct the posting after notice before a worker can bring an action.

When do the UK day-one rights take effect?
Most started on April 6, 2026, including day-one Statutory Sick Pay and day-one paternity and unpaid parental leave. Unfair dismissal becomes a day-one right on January 1, 2027.

Do we need an EOR to hire one employee in another country?
Often yes. For most startups with one to three hires in a country, an EOR removes payroll, tax, and compliance risk without a local entity. Direct hiring usually makes sense once you reach ten or more employees there.

Not to be considered as tax, legal, financial or HR advice. Regulations change over time so please consult a lawyer, accountant  or Labour Law  expert for specific guidance.