Employers throughout Pennsylvania and throughout the country routinely ask job applicants how much they are making, how much they made in their last jobs or request wage and salary information as part of job history inquiries on written and online job applications for available job positions. The consideration of this information, in part, is sometimes used by an employer to determine what compensation offer to make to an employee at the time of hire. That practice may immediately end in Philadelphia, however, if Mayor Jim Kenney signs his approval to the Wage Equity Bill passed by Philadelphia City Council in early December 2016.
On Dec. 8, 2016, Philadelphia City Council unanimously passed an amendment to Philadelphia’s Fair Practices Ordinance to make unlawful an employer’s inquiry about “a prospective employee’s wage history, require disclosure of wage history, or condition employment or consideration for an interview or employment on disclosure of wage history,” in Philadelphia Bill No. 160840, Section 9-1131(2)(a)(i)–(ii). The bill also prohibits retaliation against a prospective employee “for failing to comply with any wage history inquiry” and prohibits an employer from relying on the wage history of a prospective employee “in determining the wages for such individual at any stage in the employment process.” The bill does provide job applicants with the freedom to disclose wage history information if they “knowingly and willingly” choose to do so. The bill also provides an exception for circumstances where federal, state or local law specifically authorizes the disclosure or verification of wage history for employment purposes.
