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Comment by MagicPropmaker | Hacker News Reader

What problem is the CA legislature trying to fix, and how will they be able to determine if this legislation fixes it?

The idea is that employers ask employees their salary history. I believe some studies show that this tends to perpetuate pay bias. Also, most career people will advise against sharing that information.

Interestingly, I work for a movie company, where all work is contracted. For directors, screenwriters, stars, etc. It is very traditional to base pay on your "quote" = what you got paid last time. Now they can't ask what the person got paid last time.

Don’t employers have other methods to ascertain a prospective employers salary or pay history other than asking directly?

Not that it should be any of a company’s business, but if they want that info they can get it. That said many cos. use salary services to inform compensation.

Getting and using a particular candidate's salary history from a third-party source during the hiring process is also forbidden by this law. It doesn't just cover the candidate being asked directly.

Aggregate salary data, not specific to the individual, remains allowed.

This has been law since late 2017 and took effect at (I think) the start of 2018. The law has been clarified a bit since then. I'm not a mod, but (2017) should be added probably to the title especially since Assembly Bill numbers are reused each legislative session.

Bans California employers from asking for salary history in determining compensation.

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