As of October 6, 2017, a provision of the Oregon Equal Pay Act of 2017 is already in effect. An article written by Liani J. Reeves of Bullard Law discusses this provision pertaining to legal changes around requests for salary history data. (see full article here). It is now unlawful for prospective employers, recruiters, and others involved in the hiring practice to seek an applicant’s or employee’s salary history.
Now employers may not:
- Seek salary information from an applicant or employee
- Seek salary information from an applicant’s or employee’s current or former employers
- Use salary history information to determine a starting pay offer.
However, employers can consider an employee’s salary history for a promotion or transfer to a new position with the same employer or ask for salary history after a job offer has been made that includes the proposed compensation.
What does that mean for those involved in the recruiting and hiring practice? They will need to immediately change their hiring policies, application forms, interview questions, and compensation policies. To fail to do so will put them in violation of the Bureau of Labor and Industry and open them to fines, lawsuits, and class action claims.