California continues to lead the way in pay transparency
legislation with the recent enactment of Senate Bill 642 (SB 642).
Effective Jan. 1, 2026, SB 642 amends California's pay
transparency requirements, mandating that employers include
anticipated equity compensation, such as stocks and stock options,
when publishing a job opening. While this change further broadens
the scope of information employers must provide to prospective
employees, as of right now, it does not expressly change how
"wages" are defined in other disputes under the
California Labor Code.
What Does SB 642 Require?
Previously, California's pay transparency law required
employers to disclose the pay scale for positions in job postings,
but this did not explicitly include non-cash compensation such as
stocks or stock options. SB 642 now expands the definition of
"wages" and "wage rates" to include "all
forms of pay, including but not limited to, salary, overtime pay,
bonuses, stock, stock