On May 4, 2017, New York City enacted a new law, set to take effect on October 31, 2017, which prohibits employers with four or more employees from asking about a job applicant’s current or prior compensation. Specifically, the law makes it a discriminatory employment practice for an employer to: (1) inquire about the salary history of a job applicant; or (2) rely on the salary history of an applicant when determining the applicant’s salary, benefits or other compensation during the hiring process, unless the applicant “voluntarily and without prompting” discloses his or her prior salary information.

The intended purpose of the law is to eliminate pay inequality linked to race and gender. Proponents of the law argue that asking for salary history results in the perpetuation of a cycle of wage discrimination, while critics believe the law will have the opposite effect because employers and employees will have to rely more on salary negotiations.

For more information on the scope of the new law, including questions employers can still lawfully ask applicants, read the full legal update.