What’s New About Washington Equal Pay and Opportunities Act?
Effective July 28, 2019, the Washington Equal Pay and Opportunities Act has been expanded to prohibit Washington employers from seeking a job applicant’s wage or salary history, either from the applicant or the applicant’s current or former employer. The Act does, however, permit an employer to confirm an applicant’s wage or salary history only in the following circumstances:
- If the applicant has voluntarily disclosed it; or
- After the employer has negotiated with and made a job offer with compensation to the applicant.
The updated Act also requires an employer with 15 or more employees in the state to provide pay scale or wage information to applicants and internal employees upon their request in the following circumstances:
- Upon request of an applicant for employment after the employer has initially offered the applicant the position, the employer must provide the minimum wage or salary for the position for which the applicant is applying.
- Upon request of an employee offered an internal transfer to a new position or promotion, the employer must provide the wage scale or salary range for the employee’s new position.
- If no wage scale or salary range exists, the employer must provide the minimum wage or salary expectation set by the employer before posting the position, making a position transfer, or making the promotion.
Read the text of the entire bill here.
Next Steps for Washington Employers
All Washington employers should ensure they remove any salary history requests from their employment applications and other recruiting documents before July 28, 2019.
If you are a Xenium client, your HR Business Partner will provide you with an updated employment application within the next few weeks. Employers should also ensure all employees involved in the hiring process are aware of the salary history ban.
Washington employers with 15 or more employees should also review and evaluate their compensation plans and practices to ensure they are ready to share pay scale and salary range information upon request.