California employers will be required to give a range upon request under this same law. So might as well get it out of the way up front.

That's amazing! There's nothing more frustrating than looking at job postings and having no clue what they expect to offer me until I go through the ENTIRE interview process. It's going to be a huge time waster if they won't meet my salary requirements. I'd like to know that information upfront.

Too bad I don't live in CA.

But not too hard, right? Because that’s a crime with an outragrous fine. Actually, just the fact you said that might violate the FLSA.

I'm failing to see the problem. They're negotiating. If you don't want to pay them max_salary, then you need to have a reason why not, and counter negotiate.

i was on both sides, if somebody does not have a lot experience or does not know how much they are worth, its easy to exploit, you ask them what they currently earn and what they expected salary is, and on that you can judge the new salary. the last candidate that i hired said something even under the lover range that i expected, so i offered him a decent bump (20%) on that as i did not want to underpay him.

if i end on the other side again i will ask for the upper range for myself and see where it gets me.

Give just the x then. That will end most conversations quickly.

Salary range x-y for a position is basically a fixed sum y allotted for doing this work with an ability to dock part of this sum if a worker is not doing all all his tasks, or doing mistakes. Using salary range even before hiring is essentially a possibility to penalize a worker for his future transgressions even before he is employed. Basically - blackmail.