Salary History Bans by State: A 2026 Guide for Jobseekers
Does your state allow companies to ask your current salary?
Asking prospective employees to disclose their previous pay rates on job applications was once common practice regardless of where the employer was located.
Now, more and more states, territories, and specific cities are moving towards outlawing this practice in an effort to correct discriminatory wage gaps based on gender and race.
There are currently 21 states and territories, and 22 cities and counties that have enacted some type of salary history ban into law. Each has cited wage discrimination as a main reason for these laws taking effect.
Read on to see if your city, county, or state has a law around what pay information hiring employers are entitled to ask you.
States/Territories:
Alabama: According to law firm Fisher Phillips, The Clarke-Figures Equal Pay Act (August 1, 2019) states that employers can ask applicants for their pay history, but employers cannot use an applicant’s refusal to provide their compensation history as a reason to not interview, hire, promote, or to retaliate against them. The act also makes it illegal for Alabama employers to pay employees a lower wage than other employees based on race and gender for jobs of equal skill, education, experience, effort, and responsibility.
California: Employers, including state and local government employers, are not allowed to solicit applicant salary history, using salary history to determine whether or not to offer employment, or to determine what salary to offer an applicant. Employers must also provide a job’s pay scale if an applicant requests it.
Colorado: The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment states that the Equal Pay for Equal Work Act prohibits employers from asking applicants about their wage history or using their past pay rates to determine their salary, discriminating or retaliating against applicants who refuse to provide their pay information, forbidding employees from and retaliation against them for discussing pay, and retaliating against employees for enacting their rights under the Equal Pay Act. It also requires employers to state the compensation rate in job postings.
Connecticut: According to law firm JacksonLewis, Connecticut’s law specifies that any employer with one or more employees cannot ask applicants about their salary history or about the value of other parts of their past compensation.
Delaware: Employers are allowed to inquire about an applicant’s salary history only after an offer of employment has been made. Employers cannot ask about potential employees’ pay record before that time and they cannot use that information to inform their decision about what salary to offer the applicant.
District of Columbia: The Wage Transparency Act of 2014 was amended effective June 30, 2024 to include that employers are prohibited from asking applicants for or using applicants’ pay history to make decisions regarding employment offers.
Hawaii: According to law firm Nilan Johnson Lewis, Hawaii employers cannot ask applicants about their pay, benefits, or other compensation history and are expressly prohibited from searching public records in order to obtain prospective employees’ pay history information. If applicants voluntarily provide their compensation history, however, employers are allowed to use that information when determining the offered salary.
Illinois: In 2019, Illinois’ Equal Pay Act was amended to include that employers cannot ask prospective employees for their wage, benefits, or other types of compensation history as a requirement for an interview or other employment consideration. Employers cannot require applicants’ previous pay meet a minimum or maximum requirement, they cannot use wage history as an applicant screening tool, and if an applicant volunteers their pay history information, employers cannot use that information in decision making regarding employment or salary offers. Employers can seek wage history information if it is public record.
Maine: Maine employers, effective September 17, 2019 under An Act Regarding Pay Equality, are allowed to ask future employees about their compensation background, but only after an offer of employment and salary has been made. Questions to the applicant or their previous employers about pay history before an offer is extended are unlawful.
Maryland: Per the law firm, Extensio Law, the state’s wage range transparency law was amended in 2024 to encompass prospective employees’ pay history. The law states that Maryland employers may not inquire about an applicant’s previous compensation before an offer of employment is made. They may ask for pay history information after an employment offer is made with the offered compensation already provided and may only use an applicant’s previous salary information to increase the offered pay rate so long as that increase does not cause a pay difference with other employees in similar jobs based on discriminatory factors. Prospective employees also have the right to not disclose their pay history when asked by an employer after an offer is made, and employers are prohibited from retaliating against them for that decision.
Massachusetts: As of July 1, 2018, The Massachusetts Equal Pay Act states that employers can confirm prior wage information if the applicant has voluntarily provided that information or after an offer of employment with salary has been made to the applicant. Employers are not allowed to ask an applicant or their current and prior employers for previous wage information, and they may not require that previous salary rates meet certain criteria for an applicant to be considered for a job.
Michigan: According to the Small Business Association of Michigan, while private employers are permitted to ask applicants about their prior wage history, State of Michigan offices are not allowed to inquire about pay history until after an employment offer is made.
Nevada: The state’s salary history ban prevents employers from inquiring about an applicant’s salary history. It also does not allow employers to use past pay information in making employment decisions, like interviewing and salary negotiations, even if the applicant provides their pay history information voluntarily.
New Jersey: The Employers Association of New Jersey reports that effective January 2020, employers cannot solicit current or past compensation information from applicants or use pay history as an applicant screening tool. If salary information is inadvertently obtained during the application or interview process, it cannot be used to inform employment decisions. Employers can confirm prior salary rates after an employment and compensation offer is made, if the applicant authorizes it.
New York: Effective January 6, 2020, public and private employers of potential and current employees in the state of New York are banned from soliciting pay history information from the applicant or employee, or from other sources such as their previous employers. Pay history information cannot be used to determine whether or not to interview, hire, or promote a person, as well as what salary to offer to them.
North Carolina: Per an executive order signed by North Carolina Governor, Roy Cooper, as of April 2, 2019, state government agencies and offices may not use applicants’ earnings history to inform hiring decisions.
Oregon: The University of Oregon states that as of October 6, 2017, employers may not use applicants’ salary history as a screening tool or as a measure to set compensation offers. Employers may verify previous salary rates after a job offer along with a compensation package has been presented to the applicant.
Puerto Rico: According to law firm Fisher Phillips, The Puerto Rico Pay Act bans employers from inquiring about applicants’ compensation history until after an offer of employment and salary has already been provided in an offer letter, unless an applicant voluntarily discloses the information.
Rhode Island: The law firm Nilan Johnson Lewis reports that as of January 1, 2023, employers can use information about applicants’ wage history when/if applicants voluntarily and unprompted provide that information. Otherwise, employers cannot ask about or require applicants to disclose their salary information, use salary information that was unlawfully obtained to inform employment decisions and compensation offers, or require that applicants’ past pay rates meet certain minimum and maximum criteria.
Vermont: According to law firm JacksonLewis, Vermont’s salary history ban, which became enforceable on July 1, 2018, prohibits employers from asking applicants or their current and past employers about their pay history, using pay history as an applicant screening tool, and requiring that peoples’ past pay meet certain minimum and maximum levels. Employers can confirm a prospective employee’s salary history if that person voluntarily disclosed that information and only after an offer of employment with compensation has already been made to the person.
Washington: The Washington Equal Pay and Opportunities Act, which went into effect in July 2019, prohibits employers from asking about or requiring applicants to disclose their wage history, and from requiring that applicants’ past pay meet certain criteria. Employers can verify pay history if an applicant voluntarily provides this information, or after an employment offer with a compensation package has been established.
Cities and Municipalities
San Francisco, California: Effective July 11, 2017, The Consideration of Salary History Ordinance states that employers cannot ask applicants about their current salary or pay history, provide an employee’s compensation history to others, or use pay history in hiring decisions.
Atlanta, Georgia: Starting in 2019, City of Atlanta employment applications no longer ask applicants for their current and past pay rates.
Chicago, Illinois: Effective in 2018, the Chicago city government departments could no longer inquire about applicants’ wage history.
Louisville and Jefferson County, Kentucky: According to law firm Fisher Phillips, city agencies are not permitted to inquire about applicants’ pay history.
New Orleans, Louisiana: As of 2017, city agents are not allowed to ask job applicants about their salary history.
Montgomery County, Maryland: Effective in 2019, applicants for Montgomery County jobs cannot be asked about or forced to provide their salary history, and applicants cannot be retaliated against for not providing this information. Further, past pay rates of applicants cannot be used to determine a compensation offer by the county.
Jackson, Mississippi: AP News reported that starting on June 14, 2019, job applicants cannot be asked about or forced to provide their salary history information when applying for municipal government positions.
Kansas City, Missouri: Under Ordinance 190380 (October 31, 2019), employers operating within Kansas City are not allowed to request present or past salary or other compensation information from applicants or their current and past employers. Employers also may not search public records for pay information. Pay information can be verified if an applicant provides it voluntarily, or after an employment and compensation offer has been made to the applicant, but an applicant’s refusal to provide that information cannot be used as grounds for refusing to hire them.
St. Louis, Missouri: According to law firm Fisher Phillips, city agencies cannot ask or require applicants to disclose their pay history, nor can they retaliate against applicants for refusing to provide that information.
New York City, New York: Law firm Nilan Johnson Lewis reports that employers within the city are prohibited from soliciting pay history information from applicants, searching public records for the information, or using an applicant’s pay history to develop a compensation offer.
Albany County, New York: The Albany County Human Rights Law was amended in 2017 to include that employers with four or more employees are not allowed to inquire about applicants’ pay history either from the applicants or their former employers, they cannot use pay history as a means to screen job applicants, nor can they require that past pay meet certain minimum and maximum thresholds.
Suffolk County, New York: According to law firm Epstein Becker Green, the Restricting Information on Salaries and Earnings Act (RISE) amended the Suffolk County Human Rights Law effective June 30, 2019. The amendment prevents employers with four or more employees from asking about or using the pay history information of applicants at any point during the application and hiring stages.
Westchester County, New York: Effective July 9,2018, the Westchester Human Rights Law was amended to prohibit employers with at least four or more employees, unless ⅔ of employees are family members, from disclosing their wage history information. An applicant may voluntarily disclose their pay history when trying to negotiate a higher salary and an employer may verify that pay history, but only after an offer of employment has been made. Employers are also not allowed to retaliate against applicants who do not voluntarily provide their salary history.
Cincinnati, Ohio: Effective April 20, 2020, Cincinnati employers and employment agencies with 15 or more employees cannot ask applicants about their pay history, use salary history as an applicant screening tool, use an applicant’s pay history to determine pay, and not hire an applicant because they do not disclose their pay history.
Columbus, Ohio: As of March 1, 2024, Columbus employers and employment agencies with 15 or more employees cannot ask applicants about their pay history, use pay history as an applicant screening tool, make hiring decisions based on pay history, use an applicant’s pay history to determine pay, or retaliate against applicants for not disclosing pay history. Employers are allowed to ask applicants for their salary expectations.
Toledo, Ohio: On August 4, 2020, the Pay Equity Act to Prohibit the Inquiry and Use of Salary in Hiring Practices Act went into effect, stating that Toledo employers and employment agencies with 15 or more employees cannot ask applicants about past pay, screen applicants based on pay history, or use compensation history to make hiring decisions.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Per law firm Dickinson Wright, effective January 30, 2017, city agencies are prohibited from requesting applicants provide their pay history information. If an applicant’s past pay is inadvertently discovered during the application process, the employer is not allowed to use that information to make employment decisions, unless the applicant provided it voluntarily.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Under the Philadelphia Wage Equity Ordinance, which went into effect on September 1, 2020, employers may not ask about or require applicants to disclose their salary history, and they may not use information they have about an applicant’s pay history to make employment and salary decisions unless the applicant knowingly and willingly provided the information.
Columbia, South Carolina: Ordinance No. 2019-022 amended the 1998 Code of Ordinances of the City of Columbia, South Carolina with Article VII Conviction and Wage History Prohibition in City Employment and by City Contractors and City Vendors. It states that city agencies shall not require applicants to disclose their wage history, cannot use past salary information to make employment and salary decisions, and highly encourage city vendors to observe the same salary history practices. This ordinance went into effect in August 2019.
Richland County, South Carolina: As of May 23, 2019, salary history questions are banned from employment applications, verbal interviews, and screenings for county jobs, as reported by The Stephens Law Firm.
Salt Lake City, Utah: City agencies are not allowed to ask applicants for their salary history information. If an applicant voluntarily provides their pay history, that information cannot be used by the city agency in determining employment or salary.