Salary History Ban

Laws in many states and cities that prohibit employers from asking candidates what they previously earned — intended to break the cycle of pay inequity.

A salary history ban is a law that prohibits employers from asking job candidates about their past or current compensation. As of 2024, more than 20 US states and numerous cities have enacted some form of salary history restriction, including California, New York, Massachusetts, Illinois, Colorado, Washington, and New Jersey. The laws vary: some prohibit asking the question entirely; others allow employers to ask but prohibit using the answer to set pay. Some apply only to public employers; others cover private employers too.

The policy rationale is straightforward: if employers base new job offers on candidates' prior salary, they perpetuate whatever pay disparities the candidate carried from previous employers. Women and people of color are statistically more likely to have been underpaid in prior roles, so anchoring new offers to prior pay compounds the inequity across every job change. Salary history bans aim to force employers to set pay based on the market value of the role — not on the candidate's history of being underpaid.

From a practical standpoint, the bans shift negotiating leverage toward candidates. Without knowing your salary history, employers must either offer based on the role's market rate or post a pay range (which many jurisdictions now also require). Candidates who were previously underpaid can escape that anchor and negotiate to market rate. Importantly, you can still voluntarily disclose your salary history — the law only restricts employers from asking, not candidates from sharing. Whether that's strategically wise depends on whether your history supports or undermines your asking price.