Pay Equity Laws

What is pay equity?

Pay equity is a means of eliminating gender and ethnic discrimination in the wage-setting system. In this context, the criteria which employers use to determine wages must be gender- and ethnicity-neutral.

What is pay equity legislation?

The overarching purpose of pay equity legislation is to prohibit employers from discriminating on the basis of gender or ethnicity in the payment of wages. To assist candidates and clients alike throughout the hiring process, we’ve compiled relevant information associated with pay equity legislation enacted around the United States. This webpage includes updated information, including:

  • Bill names
  • Effective start dates
  • Violations and penalties
  • Exceptions related to voluntary disclosure and interview guidelines

If a state or territory is not included in the dropdown below, there is no pending legislation.

*This is not intended to be legal advice.

 

Minnesota

Location

Statewide

Bill

S.F. 2909

Effective

1/1/2024

Violations

• Seek compensation history from an applicant—including external applicants and current employees seeking an internal promotion or transfer—for the purpose of determining wages, salary, earnings, benefits, or other compensation for the applicant.
• Consider compensation history in determining wages, salary, earnings, benefits, or other compensation for the applicant.
• Require disclosure of compensation history in determining wages, salary, earnings, benefits, or other compensation for the applicant.
• Violations include inquiring into, considering, or requiring disclosure from any source (including, in the case of a current employee seeking an internal promotion or transfer, the hiring manager’s knowledge of the applicant’s current compensation, or the company’s human resources department or another division) of the pay history of an applicant for employment for the purposes of determining wages, salary, earnings, benefits, or other compensation for that applicant.

Penalties

Civil penalty to be determined by an administrative law judge; damages for mental anguish or suffering; costs and attorneys’ fees; punitive damages up to $25,000; back pay; hiring, reinstatement, or upgrading other relief as determined by the judge.

Voluntary Disclosure

Not a violation. The employer may consider and act on that voluntary disclosure to support a wage or salary higher than initially offered to the applicant.

Interview Guidelines

(not addressed)