Here's an article from October: <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/business/networth/article/New-law-bans-California-employers-from-asking-12274431.php" rel="nofollow">http://www.sfgate.com/business/networth/article/New-law-bans...</a><p><i>AB168, signed Thursday by Gov. Jerry Brown, applies to all public- and private-sector California employers of any size. The goal is to narrow the gender wage gap. If a woman is paid less than a man doing the same job and a new employer bases her pay on her prior salary, gender discrimination can be perpetuated, the bill’s backers say.</i><p><i>Last year, the state passed a weaker law that said prior compensation, by itself, cannot justify any disparity in compensation. The new bill goes further by prohibiting employers, “orally or in writing, personally or through an agent,” from asking about an applicant’s previous pay. However, if the applicant “voluntarily and without prompting” provides this information, the employer may use it “in determining the salary for that applicant.”</i><p><i>Delaware, Massachusetts and Oregon have passed similar laws that take effect later this year or next, said attorney Ben Ebbink of Fisher & Phillips in Sacramento. Philadelphia passed one that was supposed to take effect in May but is being challenged in court. New York City and San Francisco have similar ordinances that take effect Oct. 31 and July 1, respectively.</i>
I'm generally skeptical of regulations but in this case I think it's warranted because companies were basically "price fixing" by asking candidates about their previous salary and then matching or nudging up a bit.<p>This piece of regulation will make the market more efficient, dynamic, and fair too. Companies already have information asymmetry working to their advantage. Asking about salary history only increased that. And that's why it's unfair.
Just last month I had to search and present all my W-2s and last paychecks of my previous jobs in order to enter my new job. I cannot think on something more annoying and invasive than that. This regulation must be a national law.
Major discussions at <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15502142" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15502142</a> and <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15846852" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15846852</a>.<p>It's good to look up such threads before reposting. You can do so like this:<p><a href="https://hn.algolia.com/?query=california%20salary&sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=story&storyText=false&prefix=false&page=0" rel="nofollow">https://hn.algolia.com/?query=california%20salary&sort=byDat...</a>
If you want to get rid of equality, shouldn't salaries of positions public? I'm not saying an exact number, but a range. This asymmetric information gives the employer a much larger edge in wage negotiation.
Oregon also had this as of Oct 1st, 2017.<p>[0] - <a href="http://www.oregon.gov/boli/TA/Pages/Equal%20Pay%20Law.aspx" rel="nofollow">http://www.oregon.gov/boli/TA/Pages/Equal%20Pay%20Law.aspx</a><p><i>"Effective October 6, 2017 employers are prohibited from seeking the pay history of an applicant or employee from the applicant or employee or a current or former employer of the applicant or employee before the employer makes an offer of employment to the prospective employee that includes an amount of compensation;"</i>
We learned from the Equifax breach that salary is part of the information collected.<p>"So, it's illegal to ask? Who cares, that guy's just going to lie anyway. Let's make him give us permission to check his credit report on the job application and get the exact number. Like we always did."