Pay Equity: An Overview for Executive Search Pay Equity | Page 5

What will Pay Equity mean for Executive Search?
The new legislation prohibits employers (and their agents) from:​
• Screening candidates based on their wages​
• Requesting or requiring a candidate to disclose salary or salary history​
• Seeking salary history from a candidate’s current or former employer​
• Using salary history to determine a compensation package
• Discriminating against employees for not disclosing salary​
• These restrictions also apply even if the salary history is in the public domain.
Pay Equity laws will ensure that a candidate’s suitability for a position is judged on
their skills, experience, interviews, references and agreed criteria and will ensure that
their salary history plays no part in the hiring decision. The new legislation will mean
that organizations will need to evaluate and adjust their working practices and their
communication with candidates relating to salary history.
Search Firms working with clients and candidates based in states and cities subject
to Pay Equity Legislation should ensure that they keep up to date with the latest
developments and make sure that staff are educated accordingly.
In practice, employers will risk fines if they ask for a candidate’s salary or seek to find
it out from previous employers or even publicly available data. Asking a candidate for
their salary expectations is acceptable practice and we expect to see an increase in
those conversations as the primary focus.
While the regulations vary across states and cities, in the most part it’s acceptable to
have a candidate voluntarily disclose their salary, allowing a wider discussion. However
prompting the voluntary disclosure of salary history is strictly prohibited.
Organizations will need to decide whether to adopt a single solution in anticipation of
Pay Equity being introduced across the US or to adapt working practices with clients
and candidates dependent on their local jurisdiction.