Governor David Ige of Hawaii signed The Equal Pay Act into law this month, joining nine other U.S. States, a growing number of municipalities, and the commonwealth of Puerto Rico in banning prospective employers from inquiring about a job applicant’s salary history. The new law is set to go into effect on January 1, 2019. Once it does, employers in the state of Hawaii will not only be barred from asking about an applicant’s salary history, but they will also be prohibited from relying on that information in setting compensation, unless it is specifically volunteered by the applicant. The law, however, does not apply to internal applicants, which means employers are still free to utilize salary histories in determining pay for current employees transferring or being promoted to new positions.
Since the legal landscape concerning this matter is constantly changing, we’ve provided a guide containing the cities, counties, and states that have banned employer inquiry into applicant salary histories thus far; as well as states that have passed legislation in opposition to such bans:
