May a prospective employer ask me what I am currently paid or was paid in the past?
Effective January 1, 2018, Labor Code section 432.3 prohibits an employer from, either orally or in writing, personally or through an agent, asking any information concerning an applicant’s salary history information, which includes compensation as well as benefits. Furthermore, the law prohibits an employer from relying on an applicant’s salary history information as a factor in determining whether to offer employment at all or in determining what salary to offer.
Section #25
(Given both I and the company I was applying for were CA based at the time)
For the lazy:
That’s a good new-ish law for California! I doubt people in most other states are similarly protected.