Columbus, Ohio Bans Salary History Inquiries

Columbus, Ohio, just lately handed an ordinance prohibiting employers from inquiring a few job candidate’s wage historical past. Efficient March 1, 2024, the legislation goals to handle pay inequity and promote truthful pay practices for all staff.

The ordinance applies to all employers with 15 or extra staff in Columbus, together with each private and non-private employers. Below the legislation, employers are prohibited from asking job candidates about their wage historical past, both orally or in writing. This contains asking about present or previous wages, advantages, or different compensation. Employers are additionally prohibited from screening job candidates primarily based on their wage historical past or counting on wage historical past to find out a candidate’s pay.

The Columbus ordinance doesn’t require employers to publish job pay ranges or disclose advantages after making a conditional job provide. Moreover, there are specific exemptions to the ban, which embody: actions approved by particular federal, state, or native legal guidelines, inner promotions, voluntary and unprompted disclosure of wage historical past by a job candidate, verification of non-salary-related info, re-hires inside three years of termination, positions topic to collective bargaining agreements, and federal, state, and native authorities employers apart from the Metropolis of Columbus.

Below the ordinance, if an employer violates the prohibition on wage historical past inquiries, the worker or job applicant might file a grievance with the Columbus Group Relation Fee. The Fee will examine the grievance and should order the employer to desist from additional violations, take remedial actions as mandatory, and contains civil penalties of as much as $5,000. No non-public proper of motion is afforded to aggrieved job candidates or staff.

Employers in Columbus ought to pay attention to the brand new ordinance and be certain that their hiring practices adjust to the prohibition on wage historical past inquiries. This will embody revising job functions, amending hiring processes with distributors, as mandatory, coaching hiring managers on the brand new necessities, and updating insurance policies and procedures to make sure compliance.