Which states and cities stop an employer from asking an applicant what they earned before, or from using it to set pay. For each: what is banned, what happens if the applicant brings it up, who enforces it and what the penalty is.
Select a state to see its rule. The year on a square is when the ban started.
We have not read this state's law yet, so we are not stating what it does.
Wisconsin goes the other way. Wis. Stat. 103.36, created by 2017 Wisconsin Act 327, says an employer may solicit the salary history of prospective employees and bars cities, villages, towns and counties from prohibiting it.
No statewide ban for private employers. Executive Directive 2019-10 bars state agencies from asking about pay history until a conditional offer. A 2018 state law bars cities and counties from regulating what employers may ask applicants, so local bans are blocked. A bill to ban requiring past pay disclosure (SB 145) passed the Senate in April 2026 and is in the House.
Executive Order 2018-03 bars Commonwealth agencies from asking job applicants about current pay or pay history. It does not bind private employers. A bill for private employers (HB 630) passed the House in May 2025 and is in the Senate. Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Lehigh County have local rules.
No private-employer ban found. A 2025 bill (HB 180) would bar executive branch employers from asking employees or applicants about current or previous compensation; we could not confirm that it passed. What we looked at
Executive Order 93 (2019) bars state agencies from asking applicants for salary history or relying on it to set pay. It does not bind private employers. A bill to extend it to private employers stalled in committee in 2025.
Asking is a question to the applicant, or to a current or former employer. Relying is using the answer to decide whether to hire or what to pay. Some laws ban one and not the other.
| Where | Asking | Relying | If the applicant volunteers it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | Unknown | ||
| California | If the applicant volunteers history without prompting, the employer may consider it in setting salary (432.3(i)). Salary expectation may be asked (j). | ||
| Colorado | Unknown | ||
| Connecticut | Not barred if the prospective employee has voluntarily disclosed it. | ||
| Delaware | Employers and applicants may discuss compensation expectations as long as the employer does not ask for or require history. After an accepted offer, the employer may seek history only to confirm it. | ||
| District of Columbia | The law has no exception for volunteered history or for verifying it after an offer. | ||
| Hawaii | If the applicant volunteers salary history without prompting, the employer may consider it in determining salary (b). | ||
| Maine | If the applicant volunteers it without being prompted, the employer may seek to confirm it before an offer (5 MRSA 4577(3)). | ||
| Maryland | An applicant may share it voluntarily (e). | ||
| Massachusetts | If the prospective employee has voluntarily disclosed it, the employer may confirm it or let the employee confirm it ((c)(2)(i)). | ||
| Minnesota | The applicant may volunteer it without being asked, encouraged or prompted; the employer may then act on it only to support a higher wage than first offered. There is no verification rule; the only route is the public-record exception. | ||
| Nevada | Unknown | ||
| New Jersey | Employer may consider history the applicant volunteers without prompting or coercion (s.1(b)(1)); a multistate employer may keep a history question on its application only if it tells NJ applicants not to answer (s.1(g)). | ||
| New York | Applicant or employee may voluntarily and without prompting disclose or verify it. | ||
| Oregon | An employer does not automatically violate the law if an applicant volunteers history unprompted, but it may not consider it. It may ask the applicant's expected salary. | ||
| Rhode Island | After an initial offer, may rely on history volunteered without prompting only to support a higher wage and only if no unlawful pay differential results; may verify forfeited unvested equity or deferred compensation; a background check that discloses history may not be relied on (28-6-22(b)(1)-(5)). | ||
| Vermont | If the prospective employee voluntarily discloses it, the employer may, after an offer with compensation, seek to confirm it (b). | ||
| Virginia | A prospective employee may volunteer it (C); if volunteered without prompting, the employer may rely on it only to support a higher wage than the initial offer, where no violation of 40.1-28.6 or federal law results, and may confirm it (D). | ||
| Washington | May confirm if the applicant has voluntarily disclosed it (2)(a). |
A filled dot means the law bans it. Alabama protects an applicant who declines to answer but does not ban the question. Unknown means we have not read that part of the law yet.
Who enforces each law and what it costs. Unknown means we have not read that part of the law yet.
| Where | Enforced by | Penalty or remedy |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | Private civil action by the affected employee within two years (25-1-30(d),(h)). | Lost wages plus interest; no civil penalty. |
| California | Complaint to the Labor Commissioner within 1 year; civil action for injunctive and other relief (d). | Labor Commissioner civil penalty $100 to $10,000 per violation, set on the totality of circumstances (432.3(d)(4)). First violation of the pay-scale duty (c) is not penalized if postings are corrected. |
| Colorado | Complaint to the Division of Labor Standards and Statistics, or a civil action in district court within two years of the violation. | Legal and equitable relief including lost wages, liquidated damages, costs and attorney fees. The $500 to $10,000 fine in 8-5-203 is for job-posting and record-keeping violations, not the wage history ban. |
| Connecticut | Action by one or more employees or prospective employees to redress a violation of subsection (b), brought within two years of the violation (31-40z(d)). | Compensatory damages, attorney fees and costs, punitive damages and other relief the court deems just. No fixed fine. |
| Delaware | Department of Labor, same powers as 19 Del. C. 1111 (709B(g)); civil penalty claims in any court of competent jurisdiction (h)(3). No private right of action stated. | $1,000 to $5,000 first offense; $5,000 to $10,000 each later violation (709B(h)(1)). Violations in hiring for a single position count as one (h)(2). |
| District of Columbia | Mayor assesses civil fines (2 DCMR civil infractions); Attorney General may investigate and sue for restitution, injunctive and compensatory relief (32-1455). No private right of action (32-1455(c)). | $1,000 first violation, $5,000 second, $20,000 each later (32-1455(a)). |
| Hawaii | The ban has no enforcement clause of its own. The usual route for chapter 378 violations is a complaint to the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission within 180 days (HRS 368-11); we have not confirmed that route applies here. | No fixed amount; back pay (up to 2 years), reinstatement, costs and attorney fees under 378-5; compensatory and punitive damages under 368-17. |
| Maine | Civil action by or on behalf of the affected person, or by the Department of Labor (26 MRSA 626-A). A history inquiry is also evidence of unlawful discrimination under the Maine Human Rights Act (5 MRSA 4577). | Fine of $100 to $500 per violation under 626-A plus compensatory damages. |
| Maryland | Lab. & Empl. 3-308: Commissioner of Labor and Industry orders compliance and may assess penalties; no private action for 3-304.2 found (3-307 covers 3-304 and 3-304.1). | Order to comply. A letter for a first violation, up to $300 per affected employee or applicant for a second, and up to $600 for a later violation within 3 years (3-308(d)). |
| Massachusetts | Employee action for unpaid wages plus equal liquidated damages and attorneys fees; Attorney General may sue (105A(b)). | Unpaid wages plus equal liquidated damages and fees. |
| Minnesota | Human Rights Act (363A): charge to the Department of Human Rights within one year (363A.28), then administrative hearing (363A.29) or district court action (363A.33). | Civil penalty to the general fund set by the judge; compensatory damages up to three times actual, punitive up to $25,000, attorney fees. |
| Nevada | Unlawful employment practice; complaint to the Labor Commissioner (613.133(5)); right-to-sue under 613.134. | Administrative penalty of up to $5,000 per violation plus the Commissioner's costs. |
| New Jersey | Civil penalty collectible by the Commissioner of Labor under the Penalty Enforcement Law of 1999 (act s.1(e)(1)); if the applicant is in a protected class the violation is also an unlawful employment practice under the Law Against Discrimination (N.J.S.A. 10:5-12.12; act s.2). | Civil penalty up to $1,000 first, $5,000 second, $10,000 each later violation; punitive damages not available on the LAD track (act s.1(e), s.2(b)). |
| New York | Civil action by an aggrieved applicant or employee, also on behalf of similarly situated people. State Division of Labor Standards complaints per state guidance. | Damages, injunctive relief and reasonable attorneys fees (194-a(5)); no fixed civil penalty found. |
| Oregon | Unlawful practice under ORS chapter 659A: complaint to BOLI Civil Rights Division or civil action in circuit court, usually within one year. | No separate amount for 659A.357; BOLI back pay and court relief under ORS 659A.885. |
| Rhode Island | Civil penalty paid to the Department of Labor and Training under 28-6-21 plus any other relief to which an aggrieved party is entitled. | Up to $1,000 first violation; up to $2,500 with one violation in the prior 5 years; up to $5,000 with two or more in the prior 7 years (28-6-21(a)); no civil penalties assessed 1 Jan 2023 to 31 Dec 2024. |
| Vermont | Unknown | Unknown |
| Virginia | Attorney General civil action; an aggrieved prospective employee or employee may sue within one year. A pay-range posting violation can be corrected within 15 business days of written notice. | Civil penalty up to $1,000 first violation and up to $5,000 each subsequent; private action: actual damages and other relief (F). |
| Washington | Administrative complaint to the Department of Labor and Industries (49.58.060) or civil suit within three years (49.58.070), per 49.58.100(3). | Actual damages, statutory damages equal to actual damages or $5,000 whichever is greater, 1% a month interest, costs and attorney fees. The Department of Labor and Industries has an administrative civil penalty in 49.58.060; we have not confirmed it applies to the wage history ban. |
Some places ban the question for private employers. Others only bind the city or county when it hires. Michigan blocks local bans, and so does Wisconsin.
City and county codes are hard to read directly, so several of these rest on the council's own record plus law firm summaries. Each entry says how we know. The Westchester County law may have ended when New York's state ban took effect; we have not confirmed that.
A page that says a state has no law should say how it knows. We looked for a statute, a bill filed in 2025 or 2026 and an executive order for state agencies. Finding nothing is not proof, so we say where we read the state's own pages and where we did not.
states where we read the state's own legislature or code pages and found no ban.
For these 20 states we found no law in the sources we could read, but the state's own legislature or code pages were not read or not searched. Treat them as unconfirmed.
Need a hand implementing it?
Tell us what you need done and we will point you to firms that do this work. Your details go to a firm only when you choose it.
From the publisher
Whatever you are working toward, AllyMatter gets your policies approved, keeps every version and records who has read each one.
The rule in our own words, with a link to the law itself.