Level the Playing Field

Anthony LoPinto

In 2016, New York and Massachusetts enacted laws banning employers operating within their states from compelling job seekers to disclose their salary history. Since then, dozens of cities and states have enacted similar legislation. Now, corporations such as Amazon, Bank of America and Wells Fargo, to name a few, are following those laws to the letter across their organizations, regardless of jurisdiction, and forbidding their HR teams and outside recruiters from requesting compensation history.

Proponents of the legislation say that withholding information on past or current wages forces employers to judge the value of the job rather than the individual applicants. This makes sense, on one level. On the other hand, it undermines the ability to respond to market changes based on employment trends—a competitive hiring environment would cause companies to increase their offers, whereas overall compensation levels would decline in a deteriorating market.