(a) An employer shall not rely on the salary history information of an applicant for employment as a factor in determining whether to offer employment to an applicant or what salary to offer an applicant.

(b) An employer shall not, orally or in writing, personally or through an agent, seek salary history information, including compensation and benefits, about an applicant for employment.

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(c) (1) An employer, upon reasonable request, shall provide the pay scale for a position to an applicant applying for employment.

(2) An employer, upon request, shall provide an employee the pay scale for the position in which the employee is currently employed.

(3) An employer with 15 or more employees shall include the pay scale for a position in any job posting.

(4) An employer shall maintain records of a job title and wage rate history for each employee for the duration of the employment plus three years after the end of the employment in order for the Labor Commissioner to determine if there is still a pattern of wage discrepancy. These records shall be open to inspection by the Labor Commissioner.

(5) An employer with 15 or more employees that engages a third party to announce, post, publish, or otherwise make known a job posting shall provide the pay scale to the third party. The third party shall include the pay scale in the job posting.

(d) (1) A person who claims to be aggrieved by a violation of this section may file a written complaint with the Labor Commissioner within one year after the date the person learned of the violation. The complaint shall state the name and address of the employer and shall provide a detailed account of the alleged violation, as may be required by the Labor Commissioner.

(2) A person who claims to be aggrieved by a violation of this section may also bring a civil action for injunctive relief and any other relief that the court deems appropriate.

(3) The Labor Commissioner shall promptly investigate complaints alleging violation of this section.

(4) Upon finding that an employer has violated this section, the Labor Commissioner may order the employer to pay a civil penalty of no less than one hundred dollars ($100) and no more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000) per violation. The Labor Commissioner shall determine the amount of the penalty based on the totality of the circumstances, including, but not limited to, whether the employer has previously violated this section. For a first violation of subdivision (c), no penalty shall be assessed upon demonstration by the employer that all job postings for open positions have been updated to include the pay scale as required by this section.

(5) If an employer fails to keep records in violation of this section, there shall be a rebuttable presumption in favor of the employee’s claim.

(e) Section 433 does not apply to this section.

(f) This section does not apply to salary history information disclosable to the public pursuant to federal or state law, including the California Public Records Act (Division 10 (commencing with Section 7920.000) of Title 1 of the Government Code) or the federal Freedom of Information Act (Section 552 of Title 5 of the United States Code).

(g) This section applies to all employers, including state and local government employers and the Legislature.

(h) Nothing in this section shall prohibit an applicant from voluntarily and without prompting disclosing salary history information to a prospective employer.

(i) If an applicant voluntarily and without prompting discloses salary history information to a prospective employer, nothing in this section shall prohibit that employer from considering or relying on that voluntarily disclosed salary history information in determining the salary for that applicant.

(j) Nothing in this section shall prohibit an employer from asking an applicant about the applicant’s salary expectation for the position being applied for.

(k) Consistent with Section 1197.5, nothing in this section shall be construed to allow prior salary to justify any disparity in compensation.

(l) All civil penalties collected pursuant to this section shall be deposited into the Labor Enforcement and Compliance Fund for distribution to the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement. Upon appropriation by the Legislature, these funds may be expended by the division to cover reasonable ongoing costs of administering and enforcing this section.

(m) For purposes of this section, all of the following shall apply:

(1) “Pay scale” means the salary or hourly wage range that the employer reasonably expects to pay for the position.

(2) “Applicant” or “applicant for employment” means an individual who is seeking employment with the employer and is not currently employed with that employer in any capacity or position.

(Amended (as amended by Stats. 2021, Ch. 615, Sec. 320) by Stats. 2022, Ch. 559, Sec. 2. (SB 1162) Effective January 1, 2023.)