Salary history bans (SHBs) are catching on. 20 states, cities, and territories, from Puerto Rico to Massachusetts, have instituted laws prohibiting employers from inquiring about an applicant's previous salaries. Here’s why the practice was problematic all along.
According to a Boston University study, “if employers can access applicants’ salary histories while bargaining over wages, they can take advantage of past inequities, perpetuating [gender and/or racial pay] inequality.”
As employers used applicants’ histories to anchor offers, candidates were forced to accept less than they would otherwise command if prior compensation hadn’t been revealed. But the BU study also revealed some good news for Black job seekers.
SHBs are helping Black job changers get 14.4% pay increases! Quartz also reports that “many employers started switching from bargaining the wages of prospective hires to listing salaries in help-wanted ads.” Is this the kind of transparency that signals an assertive desire to attract qualified candidates AND compensate any gender and ethnicity at market rate?
Now, if you’re asked about your salary history, just take the advice of New York Times writer Kristin Wong by “diplomatically deflecting the question with a response like, ‘My desired salary is more in line with market research and the details of what this current job entails,’ or ‘I’d be happy to talk more about salary once an offer is in place.’