State by State Guide - Salary History Bans

Effective Date: Sept. 1, 2019

Employers Affected: All employers

Employers may not refuse to hire, interview, promote or employ a job applicant based on the applicant’s decision not to provide pay history. View the law

Effective Date: Jan. 1, 2018

Employers Affected: All employers, including state and local government employers and the legislature

California’s ban prohibits private and public employers from seeking a candidate’s pay history. Even if an employer already has that information or an applicant volunteers it, it still can’t be used in determining a new hire’s pay. The law also requires employers to give applicants pay scale information if they request it. View the law View amendments

San Francisco

Effective Date: Jan. 1, 2021

Employers Affected: All employers, including the state and any political subdivision, commission, department, institution or school district thereof.

Employers may not ask about an applicant’s pay history, nor can they rely on pay history to determine wages. Employers may not discriminate or retaliate against a prospective employee for failing to disclose their pay history. View the law

Effective Date: Jan. 1, 2019

Employers Affected: Any individual, corporation, limited liability company, firm, partnership, voluntary association, joint stock association, the state and any political subdivision thereof and any public corporation within the state

Employers may not ask about an applicant’s pay history, unless it was voluntarily disclosed. View the law

Effective Date: Dec. 14, 2017

Employers Affected: All employers, or an employer’s agent

Employers are prohibited from screening applicants based on past compensation and from asking about salary history. They may, however, confirm that information after an offer is extended. View the law

Effective Date: Nov. 17, 2017

Employers Affected: Agencies of the D.C. Government

District government agencies are prohibited from asking candidates for their salary history unless it is brought up by a candidate after an offer of employment is extended. View the directive

Effective Date: Jan. 1, 2019

Employers Affected: All employers, employment agencies and employees or agents thereof

Employers are prohibited from asking about applicants’ salary histories, and they cannot rely on that information unless volunteered by the applicant. The law does not apply to internal applicants. View the law

Effective Date: Jan. 15, 2019

Employers Affected: State agencies

Illinois’ governor said the state will no longer ask prospective employees questions about salary history. View the announcement

Effective Date: Sept. 29, 2019

Employers Affected: All employers

Employers may not seek pay history including benefits or other compensation. Employers may, however, discuss applicants’ pay expectations. View the law

Chicago

Effective Date: Sept. 17, 2019

Employers Affected: All employers.

An employer may not seek information about a prospective employee’s pay history until after a job offer has been negotiated. View the law

Effective Date: Oct. 1, 2020

Employers Affected: All employers

Employers may not seek pay history, but they may confirm wage history voluntarily provided by an applicant after an initial offer of employment, including an offer of compensation, is made. Upon request, employers must provide an applicant the wage range of the position for which the applicant applied. View the law

Montgomery County

Effective Date: July 1, 2018

Employers Affected: All employers, including state and municipal employers.

Employers cannot request salary history information. They can, however, confirm prior history if volunteered by the applicant or if an offer has been extended. If known, previous pay cannot be a defense to a pay discrimination claim. View the law

Effective Date: October 1, 2021

Employers Affected: All employers

Employers may not seek pay history, nor may they refuse to hire, interview, promote or employ applicants who do not provide pay history. Employers must provide a wage or salary range to applicants who have completed interviews for positions, and they must provide the wage or salary range or rate in certain cases of a promotion or transfer. Employers may ask applicants about their pay expectations. View the law

Effective Date: Feb. 1, 2018

Employers Affected: State entities

New Jersey agencies and offices are prohibited from asking job applicants for their compensation history, or investigating the prior salaries of applicants. View the order

Effective Date: Jan. 1, 2020

Employers Affected: All employers

Employers may not screen applicants based on their pay history. Employers may not require that an applicant’s prior wages, salaries or benefits meet minimum or maximum criteria. If an applicant voluntarily, without employer prompting or coercion, discloses pay history, an employer may verify the applicant’s pay history and may also consider pay history in determining the applicant’s salary, benefits and other compensation. After an offer of employment that includes an explanation of the overall compensation package has been made to the applicant, an employer may request the applicant provide the employer a written authorization to confirm pay history. View the law

Effective Date: Jan. 9, 2017

Employers Affected: All agencies and departments over which the governor has executive authority, and all public benefit corporations, public authorities, boards and commission for which the governor appoints the chair, the chief executive or the majority of board members, except for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey

State agencies and departments may not request salary history from applicants until after an offer of employment is extended. If an applicant’s prior compensation is already known, that information may not be relied upon in determining such applicant’s salary, unless required by law or collective bargaining agreement. View the law

Effective Date: Jan. 6, 2020

Employers Affected: All employers

Employers may not seek pay history. An employer may only confirm pay history if, at the time an offer of employment is made, applicants or current employees respond to the offer by providing pay history to support a wage or salary higher than that offered by the employer. View the law

New York City

Effective Date: April 2, 2019

Employers Affected: State agencies

State agencies may not request pay history information from applicants and may not rely upon previously obtained prior salary information in setting pay. View the order

Effective Date: Oct. 6, 2017

Employers Affected: Any person employing one or more employees, including the state or any political subdivision thereof or any county, city, district, authority, public corporation or entity and any of their instrumentalities organized and existing under law or charter

Employers may not ask about an applicants’ pay history until after an offer of employment is extended. Employers also are prohibited from using prior compensation to set pay, except for current employees moving to a new position with the same employer. View the law

Effective Date: Sept. 4, 2018 (estimated)

Employers Affected: State agencies

State agencies may not ask about a job applicant’s current compensation or compensation history at any stage during the hiring process. All job postings must clearly disclose a position’s pay scale and pay range. View the law

Effective Date: Sept. 1, 2020

Employers Affected: Any person who does business in the city through employees or who employs one or more employees exclusive of parents, spouse or children, including any public agency or authority; any agency, authority or instrumentality of the state; and the city, its department, boards and commissions

On Feb. 6, 2020, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Philadelphia may enforce its pay history ban, vacating a lower court’s injunction. The City of Philadelphia announced Aug. 6 that its Commission on Human Relations (PCHR) will begin enforcing the salary history ban on Sept. 1, 2020. View the ordinance View the regulations

Effective Date: Jan. 1, 2023

Employers Affected: All employers

Employers may not seek pay history, nor can they rely on pay history when considering an applicant for employment or determining pay. They may, however, confirm and rely on pay history after an employment offer is made to support a higher wage than initially offered. Employers also must provide a wage range for a given position. View the law

Effective Date: July 1, 2019

Employers Affected: State agencies

Beginning July 1, the Virginia Department of Human Resource Management will introduce an updated application for state jobs that eliminates the salary history field, according to a June 20 announcement by Gov. Ralph Northam. View the statement

Effective Date: July 28, 2019

Employers Affected: All employers

Employers may not seek pay history. They may, however, confirm that information if the applicant voluntarily discloses it or if an offer has been extended. Employers with 15 or more employees, upon request of the applicant and after extending an offer to the applicant, must provide information about the minimum salary for the position for which the applicant is applying. View the law

Effective Date: Feb. 18, 2019

Employers Affected: City agencies

Atlanta will not ask for salary history on its employment applications, in verbal interviews or in employment screenings. View the announcement

Effective Date: May 17, 2018

Employers Affected: The Louisville/Jefferson County Metro Government or any department, agency or office thereof unless specifically excluded in the law

City agencies may not ask for applicants’ salary histories. View the law

Effective Date: Jan. 25, 2017

Employers Affected: City departments

City agencies may not ask for applicants’ salary histories. View the order

Effective Date: Oct. 1, 2019

Employers Affected: The city

The city will not seek pay history, nor will it screen applicants based on their current or prior pay, compensation or other benefits. The city will not rely on pay history in the determination of wages nor in determining whether to offer employment to an applicant. Once an offer of employment is made, an applicant may offer pay history to negotiate a higher salary. View the law

Effective Date: June 13, 2019

Employers Affected: The city

Applications for employment with the city shall not inquire about salary history. View the law

Effective Date: July 26, 2018

Employers Affected: The city

The city may not ask applicants for their pay history until they have been hired at an agreed-upon salary. View the law

Effective Date: Oct. 31, 2019

Employers Affected: All employers employing six or more employees

Employers may not ask for nor rely on job applicants’ salary history when deciding to offer employment, or in determining salary, benefits or other compensation during the hiring process. Employers may ask about the applicant’s expectations around salary, benefits and compensation. The law’s prohibitions don’t apply to voluntary and unprompted disclosures of salary history information by an applicant. View the law

St. Louis

Effective Date: March 2020 (estimated)

Employers Affected: Employers with 15 or more employees located within the city, including job placement and referral agencies. State and local governments are excluded, with the exception of the City of Cincinnati.

Employers may not ask applicants about their salary history and may not rely on known salary histories. Employers also must, upon reasonable request, provide a pay scale for a position for which an applicant has been provided a conditional offer of employment. View the law

Effective Date: March 1, 2024

Employers Affected: Employers with 15 or more employees located within the city, including job placement and referral agencies. State, local and federal governments are excluded, with the exception of the City of Columbus.

Employers may not ask applicants about their salary history. Employers may not rely solely on salary history in setting pay, benefits or other compensation except under specific circumstances, such as when an applicant is applying for internal transfer or promotion; an applicant discloses salary history voluntarily and unprompted; and in situations pursuant to procedures established by a collective bargaining agreement. View the law

Effective Date: June 25, 2020

Employers Affected: All employers located within the city that employ 15 or more employees, including referral and employment agencies, as well as the city.

Employers may not ask for nor screen job applicants based on their pay history. They may not require that an applicant’s pay history, benefits or other compensation satisfy minimum or maximum criteria. Employers may, however, discuss applicants’ pay expectations. View the law

Effective Date: Aug. 6, 2019

Employers Affected: The city

The city will not seek pay history, nor will it rely on pay history in the determination of wages unless an applicant knowingly and willingly discloses pay history. The city will encourage vendors who do business with the city to adopt similar standards, and it may factor in vendors’ pay history standards in the process of determining whether to award city contracts. View the ordinance

Effective Date: May 23, 2019

Employers Affected: The county

Richland County will remove the salary history question from employment applications, verbal interviews and employment screenings. View document

Effective Date: March 1, 2018

Employers Affected: Salt Lake City Corporation

Individuals participating in a city hiring process are prohibited from asking an applicant about their salary history. If an applicant voluntarily discloses salary information, the city cannot rely on such information. View the law

Effective Date: June 24, 2018

Employers Affected: None

Michigan has prohibited salary history bans in the state. Local governments may not regulate the information that employers must request, require, or exclude on an application for employment or during the interview process. View the law

Effective Date: Jan. 8, 2019

Employers Affected: State departments and certain autonomous agencies

Departments may not ask about a job applicant’s salary history until a conditional offer of employment is extended. They also may not ask a current or prior employer or search public records databases to ascertain an applicant’s current or previous salary. Information already known or inadvertently discovered may not be considered. View the directive

Effective Date: April 18, 2018

Employers Affected: None

Local governments may not prohibit employers from soliciting the salary history of prospective employees. View the law