On June 11, 2019, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey signed a new law that prohibits wage discrimination based upon sex and protects workers who decline to share their salary history with a prospective employer. The new law takes effect August 1, 2019. Unlike laws in some other states, the Alabama law does not bar employers from asking for salary history information, but prohibits employers from refusing to interview or hire applicants who decline to provide such information.
Alabama joins a growing list of jurisdictions to ban or limit the use of salary history inquiries in the hiring process, including:
- California (statewide and in San Francisco)
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Hawaii
- Illinois (awaiting Gov. Pritzker’s signature)
- Maine
- Massachusetts
- Missouri
- New York (Albany, Suffolk, and Westchester Counties, and NYC)
- Ohio
- Oregon
- Philadelphia (subject to legal challenge)
- Vermont
- Washington
