FEATURED BILL: BAN ON APPLICANT SALARY HISTORY

Have you ever applied for a job and been asked for your previous salary history? The seemingly innocuous question often relegates women, and especially women of color, to lower pay or even disqualification from a new role. It’s one of the ways the gender pay gap is perpetuated.

Fortunately, Gov. Cooper banned the practice for state agencies via executive order in 2019. But it hasn’t been cemented into law. To codify this important action into law, Sen. Salvador, along with her colleagues Sens. Batch and Fitch introduced the SHRA/Ban on Applicant Salary History this April.

It’s time to ban the salary history question for state agencies and beyond, so that women can better access the careers and salaries they deserve, and we can finally begin to close the gender pay gap.