NYC Employers Can’t Ask About Past Salaries

The New York City Council has approved legislation that will ban employers from asking about past salaries during job interviews. The city joins Massachusetts, Puerto Rico, and Philadelphia – and the more than 20 other city and state legislatures that have introduced similar provisions – in banning the question. The move is an effort to tackle pay inequality, and it would impact roughly 3.8 million workers when it takes effect in six months, according to New York’s Public Advocate, Letitia James. The move is likely to have ripple effects beyond New York City, says Fatima Goss Graves, president-elect of the National Women’s Law Center. It “stands to transform the way that companies operate around the country,” she told the Washington Post. “So many companies operate in multiple jurisdictions. If a company changes its practices in New York, it is likely to also make changes around the country.”