On June 14, 2017, Delaware Governor John Carney signed into law
House Bill 1, banning employers from asking job applicants about
their salary history. The law is set to take effect in December
2017, six months from its passage. Delaware is not the first state
to pass a salary history ban law, but it is set to become the first
state to enact such changes into law.
Prohibited Activities
House Bill 1 makes it unlawful for a Delaware employer to seek
the pay history of applicants before making employment offers. The
employer is prohibited from asking for this information from both
the job applicant and his or her current or former employer. In
addition, employers are no longer permitted to engage in
salary-based screening of job applicants, where prior compensation
must satisfy certain minimum or maximum criteria. Notably,
employers are not prohibited from discussing and negotiating salary
expectations, so long as the employer avoids asking for the
applicant's
