29 States That Cannot Ask About Your Salary History

Requesting job applicants’ salary histories has been a pretty common practice for employers over the years. Recruiters and hiring managers often use this knowledge to exclude people from the candidate pool, either because the applicant is “too expensive” or their previous salary is so low, hiring managers think the person is poorly qualified or inexperienced.

Businesses have also used previous salary information to calculate new hire compensation—a process that can perpetuate pay disparity between women and men. To address this inequality, several states and municipalities have enacted bans on asking for previous salary information, although laws vary in terms, scope and applicability.

To help employers, we’ve prepared a list of states that have enacted salary history bans, which employers are affected and what the specific legislation entails.

The states and territories that have enacted salary history bans include:

• Alabama

• California

• Colorado

• Connecticut

• Delaware

• District of Columbia

• Georgia

• Hawaii

• Illinois

• Kentucky

• Louisiana

• Maine

• Maryland

• Massachusetts

• Michigan

• Mississippi

• Missouri

• New Jersey

• New York

• North Carolina

• Ohio

• Oregon

• Pennsylvania

• Puerto Rico

• South Carolina

• Utah

• Vermont

• Washington

• Wisconsin

Article Via Paycor