Cleveland received 69 complaints under its pay transparency ordinance in the law’s first year; 44 were substantiated, and no fines were assessed, according to Signal Cleveland’s reporting. The ordinance requires covered employers to include salary ranges in job listings and bars questions about applicants’ salary history. Its first anniversary fell on Tuesday, October 27, 2026.
A late-year complaint surge followed an October 13 Pay Transparency Accountability Party at Councilman Tanmay Shah’s ward office in Cudell. Attendees reviewed hundreds of job postings and filed 34 formal complaints that day, according to Signal Cleveland. The event was sponsored by Shah’s office, the Northeast Ohio Worker Center, the Fair Employment Wage Board and the Pay Equity Alliance. Grace Heffernan said FirstEnergy accounted for about a third of the complaints filed at the party; the batch included both large companies and small employers that may not know the law’s requirements.
Who the City Can’t Touch
Not every complaint has a path to resolution. Elfreda “Alfie” Walter, hired last spring to help oversee Cleveland’s trio of worker protection laws, said the Fair Employment Wage Board could not review about one-third of the 69 complaints because they involved government employers outside the city’s jurisdiction. MetroHealth and Cleveland State University represented the majority of those out-of-bounds complaints, per Walter’s account, since MetroHealth is a county government institution not subject to the ordinance and Cleveland State falls outside its reach as well. More than half of the complaints that were within the wage board’s authority have been resolved, Walter said.
The jurisdictional gap has fueled talk of expanding the concept countywide. The Fair Employment Wage Board is prioritizing similar pay transparency legislation moving through Cuyahoga County Council, the news organization reports. Dale Miller said the county should seriously consider similar countywide legislation, while Matt Ashton said county-level rules could address unfair competition concerns raised by businesses and nonprofits that worry about being undercut by employers not bound by the city law.
Compliance Over Fines, For Now
The ordinance allows fines of up to $5,000, but John Ryan said the wage board has emphasized getting employers into compliance rather than imposing penalties, helping explain why none were assessed in year one. The board has met with large employers and partnered with the Northeast Ohio Worker Center on worker outreach and Collaborate Cleveland on business outreach. Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals told Signal Cleveland they worked with the board to ensure their job postings include salary ranges. University Hospitals also said it wants public employers covered by the same rules. Shah said he would like the city to fine bad actors in the law’s second year and hopes to introduce a public dashboard to track progress and accept anonymous tips…