Use of Salary History by Employers in New York City and Oregon

Here are a couple of upcoming changes in regards to using salary history in employee background checks in New York City and Oregon.

New York City and Use of Salary History by Employers

Effective November 1, 2017 and per  City Administration Code §8-107 (www.amlegal.com/codes/client/new-york-city_ny/), an employer or its "agent" cannot inquire about salary history.  If applicant "voluntarily" and "without prompting" discloses past salary, the employer can verify it. There are exceptions.

• Where federal or state law requires disclosure.
• Internal transfers and promotions.
• A unique situation - if, when verifying other past employment information, salary is disclosed, employer may consider it, but not for salary, benefits, or other compensation.  [Comment:  this seems like a very dangerous exception and one to be avoided.  If a CRA is provided this information it would be best not to report it.]

Oregon and Use of Salary History by Employers 

Salary History H.B. 2005 and effective October 6, 2017, is a simple part of a larger Equal Pay Law now located at ORS §652.210 but has not yet been codified. See (https://olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2017R1/Measures/list/)

An employer cannot obtain from the applicant or otherwise [CRA verification of employment] seek their salary history.  As with some other such laws, the employer can seek to confirm past salary after job offer is extended that includes the proposed compensation.

Businesses hiring in these areas need to be aware of these new guidelines on using salary history in employee background screening.