Arkansas salary history ban: no state law, the wage history consent rule, and the Eighth Circuit on prior pay

Arkansas has no law that bars employers from asking job candidates about their salary history, as of November 2026, and we found no salary history provision in the codes of its larger cities. Arkansas law actually builds a route for pay history to reach a new employer: Arkansas Code 11-3-204, amended by Act 369 of 2025, lets a current or former employer disclose an employee's "current pay rate and wage history" to a prospective employer once the employee gives written consent. What limits the use of that number is equal pay law, Arkansas's own and the federal Equal Pay Act, which the Eighth Circuit applies with a hard look at any prior-salary defense.

Is it illegal to ask about salary history in Arkansas?

No. The Arkansas Code contains no provision on salary history questions, and we did not find a 2025 or 2026 bill that would add one. Private and public employers may ask, and a candidate may decline, though no Arkansas statute protects a candidate who does. Our guide to hiring employees in Arkansas and Arkansas background check guide reach the same conclusion. The one 2025 change we found that touches pay history went the other way, as the next section shows.

How does Arkansas Code 11-3-204 let wage history be shared?

Section 11-3-204 is a reference-immunity law. Act 369 of 2025 (House Bill 1643, approved March 20, 2025) restated its list. Subsection (a)(1) now says a current or former employer "may disclose the following information about a current or former employee's employment history to a prospective employer of the current or former employee upon receipt of written consent from the current or former employee," and item (B) on that list is "Current pay rate and wage history." The other items include dates of employment, duties, the last written evaluation, attendance, recent drug or alcohol test results, workplace threats, substantiated sexual abuse or harassment allegations (the 2025 addition), the reason for separation and rehire eligibility.

The consent rules in subsection (b), which Act 369 did not change, are specific:

• The consent must be "on a separate form from the application form or, if included in the application form, shall be in bold letters and in larger typeface than the largest typeface in the text of the application form."
• It must be signed and dated by the applicant, with wording similar to: "I, (applicant), hereby give consent to any and all prior employers of mine to provide information with regard to my employment with prior employers to (prospective employer)."
• It is valid only while the application is active, and no longer than six months if the applicant is hired.

A disclosing employer is presumed to act in good faith and is immune from liability unless what it disclosed was false and it knew so or acted with malice or reckless disregard. Subsection (d) adds that the section does not require any prospective employer to ask for employment history or any former employer to give it.

For recruiters, the point is this: in Arkansas, pay history can come to you from a reference with the candidate's signature on it, lawfully. That does not make it a good input to an offer, for the reasons below.

What does Arkansas's own equal pay law say?

Arkansas has two sex-based wage statutes in Title 11, chapter 4:

• Section 11-4-601. This section requires every employer to "pay employees equal compensation for equal services" and bars discrimination in wages "solely on the basis of the sex of the employee." A violation is a Class C misdemeanor, and each day it continues is a separate offense.
• Section 11-4-610. This section bars paying women less than men "for comparable work," but allows variations based on "seniority, experience, training, skill, ability, differences in duties and services performed, differences in the shift or time of the day worked, or any other reasonable differentiation except difference in sex."

Under section 11-4-611, an employer that violates 11-4-610 owes the unpaid wages, "an additional equal amount as liquidated damages," attorney's fees and costs. The Director of the Division of Labor may take assignment of the claim, and suit must be brought within two years. Prior salary is not named anywhere in these sections; whether it is a "reasonable differentiation" is a question an employer would have to win.

How does the Eighth Circuit treat prior salary?

Arkansas sits in the Eighth Circuit, which has not adopted the Ninth Circuit's flat rule against prior pay but does not accept it at face value either. In Drum v. Leeson Electric Corp., No. 08-1678, filed May 15, 2009, the court restated its approach from Taylor v. White (2003):

"When prior salary is asserted as a defense to a claim of unequal pay, this court carefully examines the record to ensure that an employer does not rely on the prohibited 'market force theory' to justify lower wages for female employees simply because the market might bear such wages."

In Drum, a human resources manager earned $41,548; the man who replaced her was hired from outside at $62,500, and the employer pointed to her prior salaries to explain the difference. The court found disputed facts and reversed the summary judgment the employer had won. The lesson is practical: a prior-salary explanation leads to a trial over where the old number came from. The EEOC's Compliance Manual section on compensation discrimination, still on eeoc.gov as of November 2026, goes further: "Prior salary cannot, by itself, justify a compensation disparity." Title VII, at 42 U.S.C. 2000e-2(a), adds a federal claim for employers with 15 or more employees.

Can Arkansas cities pass their own salary history bans?

We found none that has. In November 2026 we searched the Little Rock, Fayetteville, Fort Smith, Springdale, Jonesboro, Conway and Bentonville codes on Municode for "salary history," "wage history," "pay history," "prior salary" and "compensation history" and found no provision.

State law also narrows what a city could do. The Intrastate Commerce Improvement Act, Act 137 of 2015 (Arkansas Code 14-1-403), bars a county, city or other political subdivision from adopting or enforcing a rule "that creates a protected classification or prohibits discrimination on a basis not contained in state law," except a rule or policy that covers only its own employees. A salary history ban is not obviously a protected classification, so how the act would apply to one is untested; what is clear is that a city may change its own job applications. Our Arkansas ban-the-box page covers the same act for criminal history.

Do neighboring states' rules reach Arkansas recruiters?

Less than for most states. None of Arkansas's six neighbors bans the question statewide, but two local rules matter:

Remote hires are the bigger exposure: a Bentonville employer hiring an analyst who will work from Denver is under Colorado's ban, which covers any employer with someone working in Colorado.

Should an Arkansas recruiter ask about current pay?

If your application or onboarding packet carries an 11-3-204 consent, check what your reference script actually asks. The candidate reference call script leaves pay out. Agency licensing and screening rules are in Arkansas staffing agency licensing and E-Verify requirements in Arkansas.

An Arkansas script

Opening the pay topic

"This role pays $48,000 to $55,000 plus benefits (example figures). What are you targeting?" More wording is in salary expectation questions.

When the hiring manager wants the old salary from the reference

"Her former employer could share it with her consent, but if her offer ends up below a man's in the same job, that number won't carry the explanation. Let's set it from the range and her certifications, and write that down."

When the candidate volunteers current pay

"Thanks. We set pay from the role, so the useful number is what you need to make the move." Record the expectation only; see what not to write in interview notes.

Arkansas summary

Arkansas checklist

1. Decide as a policy not to ask about current or past pay, even though Arkansas allows it.
2. If you use an 11-3-204 consent form, keep pay off your reference questions.
3. Share the range and ask for expectations.
4. Record the job-related reasons for each offer; never let prior pay be the only explanation for a gap.
5. Check the law where a remote hire will work; see our salary history ban states list.