Kentucky salary history ban: no state law, Louisville Metro's rule and what KRS 337.423 means for offers

Kentucky has no statewide law that bars private employers from asking job candidates about their salary history, as of October 2026. The 2025 bill that would have created one, HB 289, was sent to a House committee on February 7, 2025 and never moved, according to the Legislative Research Commission's record. The only salary history rule in the state is Louisville Metro's, and it binds Metro Government's own hiring. Two things still shape how Kentucky recruiters should handle pay: Kentucky's equal pay statute, KRS 337.423, which permits pay differences only under seniority or merit systems, and Cincinnati's ordinance for jobs across the river.

Is it illegal to ask about salary history in Kentucky?

No, not for a private employer. Chapter 337 of the Kentucky Revised Statutes (wages and hours) contains no wage history provision, and the bills that tried to add one have stalled:

• HB 289 (2025 regular session). The LRC summary says it would have made it a discriminatory employment action for an employer to ask about previous salary or wages, rely on previous salary when setting a new salary, or refuse to hire an applicant who does not provide it. Its last action, on February 7, 2025, was referral to the House Economic Development and Workforce Investment Committee.
• HB 210 (2026 regular session). A pay range bill rather than a history ban, HB 210 would have required "the wages or wage range for the advertised position in any job posting." It was sent to the same committee on January 14, 2026 and went no further.

We found no salary history bill among the 2026 session's wage and employment bills. The rest of Kentucky's hiring rules are in hiring employees in Kentucky.

What would HB 289 have changed?

The bill is worth knowing because it shows the shape a Kentucky ban would take if it returns. Per the LRC summary, HB 289 would have created a new section of KRS Chapter 337 and:

• allowed information "voluntarily provided in response to an offer of employment";
• allowed previous salary to be considered when required by law, for internal transfers, and for public employee positions;
• required a posted notice for employees; and
• amended KRS 337.990 to add a civil penalty.

None of that is law. If you build a process now that never asks and relies only on expectations, a future Kentucky ban of this kind would change little for you.

Does Louisville have a salary history ban?

For Louisville Metro Government's own hiring, yes. Louisville Metro Code section 35.012, from Ordinance 66-2018 approved May 17, 2018, says that, except as state and federal law provide otherwise, Louisville Metro shall not:

• "Inquire about an applicant's salary history";
• "Consider or rely on salary history of an applicant in determining the salary, benefits or other compensation" during hiring; or
• refuse to hire, or otherwise disfavor or retaliate against, an applicant who does not disclose it.

"Inquire" is broad: "any direct or indirect statement, question, prompting, or other communication," including through an agent. If an applicant "voluntarily and without prompting" discloses salary history, Metro may verify it after offering employment with a compensation amount. The section does not apply to internal transfers or promotions, to positions whose pay is set by collective bargaining, or to verification of non-salary information, although salary history turned up that way may not be relied on. The penalty is internal: a Metro employee who violates it may be disciplined, up to termination.

Private employers in Louisville are not covered. We also searched the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government code on Municode for "salary history," "wage history," "pay history" and "compensation history" in October 2026 and found no provision.

Can Kentucky cities ban salary history questions for private employers?

We found none that has. Kentucky's employment preemption statute is about pay itself: KRS 65.016, created by 2017 Ky. Acts ch. 3, says the legislative body of any city, county or consolidated, urban-county, charter county or unified local government "shall not have the authority to require any employer to pay to an employee a certain wage or fringe benefit other than as determined by the employer." It does not mention hiring questions, and we found no Kentucky statute that speaks to local salary history rules.

How does Kentucky's equal pay law treat prior pay?

This is where Kentucky differs from the federal rule. KRS 337.423(1) says no employer shall pay any employee "at a rate less than the rate at which he or she pays any employee of the opposite sex for comparable work on jobs which have comparable requirements relating to skill, effort and responsibility." The only differentials the text excludes are those "paid pursuant to established seniority systems or merit increase systems, which do not discriminate on the basis of sex."

The federal Equal Pay Act, 29 U.S.C. 206(d)(1), also allows "a differential based on any other factor other than sex," and that is the defense employers use for prior pay. KRS 337.423's text has no such catch-all. We did not review Kentucky case law for this page, so read the difference as a reason for caution, not a settled rule: a Kentucky pay gap explained by "we matched his last salary" rests on a defense the state statute does not list.

Other features of the Kentucky statute:

• Coverage. Under KRS 337.420, an employer is a person with two or more employees in the state in each of 20 or more calendar weeks, "and an agent of such a person." "Wage rate" includes payment in kind and employee benefits.
• Not just the employer. Subsection (3) adds: "No person shall cause or attempt to cause an employer to discriminate" in violation of these sections.
• The federal carve-out. The sections do not apply to an employer subject to the federal Fair Labor Standards Act where that act imposes comparable or greater requirements and the employer files a statement of federal coverage with the commissioner of the Department of Workplace Standards.
• Remedies. KRS 337.427 makes a violating employer liable for unpaid wages, plus an equal amount as liquidated damages for willful violations in employee suits, and a reasonable attorney's fee.
• A short deadline. Under KRS 337.430, a court action must start "no later than six (6) months after the cause of action occurs."

Which federal rules apply in Kentucky?

• The Equal Pay Act, above, with its four defenses that the employer must prove.
• The EEOC's position. The EEOC Compliance Manual section on compensation discrimination, issued in 2000 and still on eeoc.gov as of October 2026, says "Prior salary cannot, by itself, justify a compensation disparity," though it may be one of several factors if sex played no part.
• Title VII. 42 U.S.C. 2000e-2(a) bars compensation discrimination by employers with 15 or more employees.

Do Cincinnati's or other states' rules reach Kentucky recruiters?

Often, yes. Northern Kentucky recruiters fill jobs in Cincinnati every day, and Cincinnati Code chapter 804 applies to employers "located within the City of Cincinnati and using the services of fifteen or more employees for pay" there, including "job placement and referral agencies and other employment agencies," for work performed in the city. Section 804-03 makes it unlawful for a covered employer "or its agent" to inquire about salary history, screen or rely on it, or refuse to hire someone who will not disclose it. It expressly allows discussing expectations, including unvested equity or deferred pay the candidate would forfeit. Applicants can sue within two years for compensatory damages and attorney's fees.

The same logic applies to remote roles: if the person will work in a state with a ban, that state's law is the one to check. Illinois, for example, bars the question statewide; see the Illinois salary history ban and the full list in salary history ban states.

Should a Kentucky recruiter ask about current pay?

For staffing firms the simplest answer is one process for every desk. Take current-salary fields out of intake forms and submittals, keep pay off reference calls, and record expectations only. Agency licensing and screening rules are in Kentucky staffing agency licensing, Kentucky background check laws and E-Verify requirements in Kentucky.

A Kentucky script

Opening the pay topic

"This role pays $62,000 to $70,000 plus benefits (example figures). What are you hoping for?"

When the candidate volunteers current pay

"Thanks. We set pay from the role and the range, not from current salary, so tell me what you'd need to make the move." More ways to handle pushback are in how recruiters answer candidate salary questions.

When a Cincinnati client asks what the candidate earns now

"Cincinnati's ordinance applies to your company and to me as your agent, so I don't ask. His expectation is $68,000."

Kentucky summary

Kentucky checklist

1. Adopt a no-pay-history policy for every desk, even though Kentucky allows the question.
2. Share the range first and ask for expectations; see salary expectation questions.
3. Never set or justify an offer by prior pay; write down the job-related reasons for where it sits.
4. Flag every job located in Cincinnati and every remote role filled from a ban state.
5. Keep volunteered figures out of notes and submittals.