Starting Jan. 1, 2020, New Jersey employers won’t be allowed to screen job applicants using their salary history and can’t set minimum or maximum salary thresholds for applicants to be considered for a job. Signed into law July 25, the measure (2019 Ch. 199, A 1094) aims to reduce the gender pay gap. Employers that ask for or obtain applicants’ salary histories could face penalties of up to USD $1,000 for a first offense, increasing to USD $5,000 for a second offence and $10,000 for any subsequent violations.
The new law imposes on private-sector employers a salary-history ban similar to the one that applies to New Jersey government employers under a 2018 executive order. In signing the legislation, the acting governor noted that in New Jersey, female employees earn 82 cents for every dollar paid to men holding full-time, year-round jobs, and the wage gap between Latina women and white men is the largest among US states.
Here are key provisions of what the law permits or prohibits:
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