Update applicable to:

The ban applies to all employers with 15 or more employees who work in Columbus; it applies to job placement, referral, and other employment agencies operating on behalf of a covered employer.

What happened?

Columbus has joined Toledo, Cincinnati, and a number of states and locales around the country, in banning employers from asking job applicants about their salary history.

What are the details?

Effective March 1, 2024, covered employers in Ohio’s capital will be prohibited from:

• Inquiring about an applicant’s salary history
• Screening applicants based on their salary history
• Relying solely on salary history when deciding whether to offer an applicant employment or determining their compensation
• Retaliating against applicants for not disclosing their salary history

Unlike Toledo and Cincinnati’s bans, the Columbus ordinance contains no posting requirements and does not require employers to share a position’s pay range with applicants after making a conditional offer of employment.

For more information, please see the links below:

Ordinance Page

Ordinance

Law Articles: Link 1, Link 2

What do employers need to do?

Columbus employers should evaluate their employment applications and hiring practices with the assistance of legal counsel to ensure compliance with the city’s salary history ban before it takes effect in March 2024. In addition, with the increasing number of salary history bans across the country and the rise of remote work, all employers should be aware of pay equity and transparency laws in other locations where they operate or have employees and, as necessary, take steps to ensure compliance.

This communication is intended solely for the purpose of conveying information. The present post might incorporate hyperlinks directing readers to websites managed by third-party entities. The inclusion of any links within this communication is meant to serve as points of reference and could encompass opinion articles from various law firms, articles from HR associations, official websites, news releases, and documents of government agencies, and other relevant third-party sources. Vensure has no authority over these external websites and bears no responsibility for their content. Furthermore, Vensure does not endorse the materials present on these websites. The contents of this communication should not be interpreted as legal advice or as a legal standpoint concerning specific facts or scenarios. Nor should it be deemed an exhaustive compilation of facts potentially pertinent to federal, state, or local laws. It is strongly advised that employers solicit legal guidance from an employment attorney when undertaking actions in response to any legal updates provided. This is due to the possibility of future alterations occurring in federal, state, and local laws, regulations, as well as the directives and guidelines issued by governing agencies. These changes may transpire at any given time, potentially rendering certain portions of the content within this update void or inaccurate.