October 23, 2018

Wondering if it is safe for you to ask a prospective employee about their salary history? Neither the Equal Pay Act nor the Fair Labor Standards Act prohibit employers from inquiring about salary history during the application or interview process. However, many state and local jurisdictions have recently made it unlawful to do so.
Salary history bans prohibit employers from asking salary history questions during the application and interview process. Currently, there are 18 states, and 16 local bans throughout the country.
If you are in any of those jurisdictions it would be best if you simply stopped asking salary history questions. This will also involve auditing your job applications and removing the salary history questions. Even if you are not in those jurisdictions it might be a good idea to stop asking those questions now. With how fast those laws are developed; it is best to not be caught off-guard.