AB 168 passed into law on October 12, 2017, amending the California Fair Pay Law by prohibiting all California employers from inquiring into an applicant’s salary history starting January 1, 2018.
Specifically, under the new law, all California employers are required to follow these rules during the hiring process:
- Employers cannot use (rely on) the salary history information of an applicant when determining whether to offer employment to an applicant or
- Employers cannot use (rely on) the salary history information of an applicant when determining what salary to offer an applicant.
- Employers cannot seek salary history information, including compensation and benefits, about an applicant.
- Upon reasonable request, employers must provide the pay scale for a position to an applicant applying for employment.
It is important to note that the law does not prohibit an applicant from voluntarily disclosing salary history information to a prospective employer. If an applicant voluntarily and, without prompting, discloses salary history information to a prospective employer, the law does not prohibit that employer from considering the voluntarily disclosed salary history information.
Next step for employers
California employers should review this new law and provide training to those people involved in the hiring process about the new requirements, as these new requirements impact the interview process. In addition, all California employers should review their job applications and verify that any inquiries regarding prior salary history or wage rates are removed from the application before January 1st.
This information was written by Laurian Rutterbush and shared on https://blog.eplaceinc.com.
