In an attempt to reduce the gender wage gap, the Washington State Legislature passed HB 1696,(“the Bill”), legislation that will prevent all private employers in Washington State from inquiring into the salary history of prospective employees  or requiring that an applicant's prior wage or salary history meet certain criteria.  Additionally, the Bill mandates that, upon an applicant’s request, an employer with 15 or more employees must provide the applicant with certain details about the pay rate or salary range for the open position.

If, as expected, the measure is signed into law by Governor Jay Inslee,  the State of Washington will join an increasing number of jurisdictions (including New York City, California, and, most recently, Maine) that have imposed restrictions or bans on salary history inquiries. Similar to some of these other laws, the Bill allows an employer to confirm a prospective employee’s salary history (i) if the prospective employee has voluntarily disclosed his or her salary history, or (ii) after an offer of employment (including compensation) has been made to the prospective employee.

Unlike most of the other jurisdictions’ salary history inquiry bans, however, but, similar to California’s, the Bill requires an employer with 15 or more employees, upon request by a prospective employee who has been offered the position, to disclose the minimum wage or salary range for that position.  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 range exists (due to a lack of employees or otherwise), the employer must provide a minimum wage or salary expectation prior to the posting of the position, making a position transfer, or making a promotion.

If signed by Governor Inslee, the Bill would become effective 90 days after adjournment of the session in which the bill is passed, on July 28, 2019. Washington’s employers should plan to amend hiring practices to conform to the new Bill’s prohibitions.

Back to Workforce Bulletin Blog

Search This Blog

Blog Editors

Authors

Related Services

Topics

Archives

Jump to Page

Subscribe

Sign up to receive an email notification when new Workforce Bulletin posts are published:

Privacy Preference Center

When you visit any website, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. This information might be about you, your preferences or your device and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to. The information does not usually directly identify you, but it can give you a more personalized web experience. Because we respect your right to privacy, you can choose not to allow some types of cookies. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings. However, blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information.

Performance Cookies

These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and will not be able to monitor its performance.