Hiring New Employees? Careful What You Ask.

You’ve put the ad on the job board, sifted through the candidates, and have narrowed it down to a few of the best. Now you check their references, ask for their salary history - STOP. Not anymore.

With the recent revisions to the Illinois Equal Pay Act of 2003, it is now illegal to ask an employee their salary history as part of the job application process. As an employer you can’t screen according to prior wages or salary history, request or require that information as part of the process, or require that information to be disclosed as a condition of employment. You also can’t go around the potential employee to subvert the law - inquiries to current or previous employers are off-limits as well.

If an application offers the information, without being prompted, there is no violation, and employers can provide information, such as salaries or benefits to the prospective employee - but any attempt to solicit previous salary history is now against the law. The law also provides an additional protection for employees - they cannot be prohibited from discussing their salary or benefits with other employees and cannot be required to sign a document that agrees to such a prohibition.

The penalties under this law could add up, too. While the regency of the law has provided little insight to what the eventual penalties will be in practice, the law calls for up to $5,000 per violation, making your four-interview afternoon into a potential $20,000 liability.

In addition to ceasing any salary requests in interview going forward, we suggest reviewing and updating employee handbooks to remove any references to employees agreeing not to disclose salary information, as if not removed, that clause could potentially cost the Company $5,000 per employee.

This article is for informational purposes only. If you have any questions, please contact our team at Troglia•Kaplan Attorneys.