Nevada salary history ban: NRS 613.133 for recruiters and agencies

Nevada bars employers and employment agencies from seeking a job applicant's wage or salary history, relying on it to decide whether to make an offer or what to pay, and acting against an applicant who will not provide it. The rule is NRS 613.133, added by Senate Bill 293 in 2021 and in effect since October 1, 2021. Three features make it stricter than many state bans: it names employment agencies directly, its penalty can be imposed on an agent or representative personally, and it contains no exception for history the candidate volunteers.

The statute

NRS 613.133(1) says an employer or an employment agency "shall not, orally or in writing, personally or through an agent":

1. "Seek the wage or salary history of an applicant for employment";
2. "Rely on the wage or salary history of an applicant to determine" whether to offer employment or the rate of pay; or
3. "Refuse to interview, hire, promote or employ an applicant, or discriminate or retaliate against an applicant if the applicant does not provide wage or salary history."

"Wage or salary history" means the wages or salary paid by the applicant's current or former employer, and "includes, without limitation, any compensation and benefits received." SB 293 had no effective-date clause, so it took effect on October 1, 2021 under Nevada's default rule in NRS 218D.330.

Who is covered

• Every Nevada employer. The section defines "employer" for its own purposes as "a public or private employer in this State," including the State, its agencies and political subdivisions. It does not use the 15-employee threshold in NRS 613.310, which governs most of the chapter's other unlawful employment practices.
• Employment agencies. "Employment agency" means "any person regularly undertaking with or without compensation to procure employees for an employer or to procure for employees opportunities to work for an employer." Contingency recruiters, retained search firms, staffing companies and RPO providers all fit.
• Individual recruiters. The penalty in subsection (6) may be imposed against "any employer or employment agency or any agent or representative thereof." A recruiter who asks the question can be personally exposed, not just the firm.

What is banned and what is allowed

No exception for volunteered history

Many states say what happens when a candidate volunteers pay. Hawaii lets the employer consider it, Rhode Island and Virginia let it support a higher offer, and Vermont lets the employer confirm it after an offer. NRS 613.133 says none of this. Its ban on relying on history to set "the rate of pay for the applicant" has no carve-out, so a figure the candidate volunteers should not be used to set an offer in either direction.

For agency recruiters this changes the submittal. In some states, passing on a volunteered number is defensible. In Nevada, putting it in front of the client invites the client to rely on it. Keep it out of the submittal, the ATS and your notes, and send the expectation instead; see what not to write in interview notes.

The range is owed after the interview

The same section carries Nevada's pay transparency rule. Under subsection (2), an employer or employment agency must provide the wage or salary range or rate for the position "to an applicant for employment who has completed an interview." Employees who apply for a promotion or transfer, complete an interview or receive an offer, and ask for the range must also be told. The section does not require ranges in job postings.

Because the duty attaches to employment agencies as well as employers, an agency that runs the first interview should be ready to give the range at the end of it. The simplest practice is to give it before the interview, which also satisfies the rule. Our Nevada pay transparency guide covers the details, and pay transparency for staffing agencies covers agency-specific practice across states.

Enforcement and penalties

• Unlawful employment practice. Subsection (4) makes any violation an unlawful employment practice.
• Labor Commissioner complaint. A person may file a complaint with the Labor Commissioner against the employer or employment agency.
• Administrative penalty. Up to $5,000 for each violation, "in addition to any other remedy or penalty," and the commissioner may recover the costs of the proceeding, including investigative costs and attorney's fees.
• Right to sue. Under NRS 613.134, if at least 180 days have passed since the complaint was filed, the commissioner must issue a right-to-sue notice on request. The person then has 90 days from receipt to sue in district court.

Agency agreements and the personal penalty

Because subsection (6) lets the Labor Commissioner penalize "any agent or representative" of an employer or agency, the usual agency habit of "the client asked, so I asked" offers no cover in Nevada. Build the rule into intake:

• Written instruction both ways. Your terms should say the client will not ask you for pay history and you will not ask candidates for it. If a client insists, decline the instruction in writing.
• The range before the first interview. Get it at intake so that whichever party runs the first interview can give it.
• Submittals without history. Use a candidate submittal template with expectation, notice and availability fields and no current-pay field.
• References and checks. Remove pay from reference scripts and background check orders. A former employer is just another way of seeking history.

Las Vegas desks recruiting across state lines

A Nevada desk that also recruits for California clients, or places Nevada candidates in California roles, works under two bans. Both states ban the question, but their volunteered-pay rules differ: California lets an employer consider history the applicant disclosed voluntarily and without prompting, and Nevada's text has no such exception. A single desk process that never records volunteered pay works under both. California's rules are in our California salary history ban guide.

A Nevada script

Opening the pay topic

"The range for this role is $64,000 to $74,000 (example figures). I'll always give you that up front. What are you looking for?"

When the candidate offers their current salary

"Thanks, but I don't need that and I won't pass it on. Nevada doesn't allow pay to be set from salary history. What number would make this move worth it for you?"

When the candidate declines to discuss pay at all

"That's completely fine. Here's the range; tell me later if it works." Do not mark the candidate down for it; that is the retaliation subsection (1)(c) forbids.

When the client asks

"Nevada's law applies to us as the agency as well as to you, and the penalty can land on the individual recruiter. I can tell you her expectation is $70,000 and she's available in three weeks."

Nevada checklist

1. Remove pay history fields from every form and intake template used for Nevada roles, including agency templates.
2. Give the range before or at the first interview.
3. Never set or adjust an offer from history, even volunteered history.
4. Do not penalize candidates who decline to talk about pay.
5. Ask expectations using the wording in salary expectation questions.

For the other states, see salary history ban states.