South Carolina salary history ban: no state law, Columbia's city rule and S.C. Code 41-1-65

South Carolina has no statewide law that bars private employers from asking job candidates about their salary history, as of October 2026. A full-text search of the Legislature's 2025-2026 bills finds no salary history bill, and the Code of Laws leans the other way: S.C. Code 41-1-65 gives a former employer immunity for telling a prospective employer a candidate's "pay level, and wage history." The only ban in the state is local and narrow. Columbia's ordinance stops the city itself from asking, and lets the city weigh its vendors' wage history policies when it awards contracts.

So asking is lawful in South Carolina. Whether it is wise is a separate question, and the federal Equal Pay Act, remote candidates in other states and the paper trail a pay question leaves all point toward asking for expectations instead.

Is it illegal to ask about salary history in South Carolina?

No, not for a private employer. We checked three places. The Code of Laws, Title 41 (Labor), has no section limiting pay history questions; its only mention of wage history is the disclosure immunity below. A search of the Legislature's 2025-2026 session for "salary history," "wage history," "pay history" and "compensation history" returns no bill. And the state's anti-discrimination statute, S.C. Code 1-13-80, the South Carolina Human Affairs Law, bars discrimination "with respect to the individual's compensation" because of race, religion, color, sex, age, national origin or disability, but says nothing about what may be asked. It applies to employers with fifteen or more employees.

South Carolina also has no general equal pay statute of its own. The one equal pay bill of the current session, H. 3512, the "South Carolina State Employee Equal Pay for Equal Work Act," would cover state agencies only and does not mention salary history. It was referred to the House Ways and Means Committee on January 14, 2025 and shows no action since. The state's other hiring rules are collected in hiring employees in South Carolina.

What does S.C. Code 41-1-65 say about sharing wage history?

This is the provision that makes South Carolina different from a state that is simply silent. Section 41-1-65(B) reads:

"Unless otherwise provided by law, an employer shall be immune from civil liability for the disclosure of an employee's or former employee's dates of employment, pay level, and wage history to a prospective employer."

Subsection (C) extends the immunity to written answers to a written request about evaluations, the reasons for separation and job performance. Subsection (D) removes it where the employer "knowingly or recklessly releases or discloses false information." The section dates from 1996 Act No. 281. "Employer" includes the employer's agents, defined as "any former supervisor or the employer's designee," and a "prospective employer" is any employer to whom the person has applied or sent a resume.

Three things follow for a recruiter:

• References can answer. A South Carolina former employer, or a former supervisor, can tell you what the candidate earned without fear of a civil claim, so long as the figure is true.
• The immunity protects the speaker, not the asker. Section 41-1-65 says nothing about whether you may seek or use the figure. That depends on the law that covers your hire, which may be another state's.
• "Unless otherwise provided by law." If the role or the candidate falls under a state that bars seeking pay history from any source, the South Carolina immunity does not make your question lawful there.

The same section matters for background checks; see South Carolina background check laws, which also covers the state's negligent hiring protections.

What does Columbia's ordinance cover?

Columbia adopted Article VII of Chapter 2 of its code, "Conviction and wage history prohibition in city employment and by city contracts and city vendors," by Ordinance 2019-022 on August 6, 2019. The wage history rule is section 2-354:

• The city "shall not inquire about a prospective employee's wage history, require disclosure of wage history, or condition employment or consideration for an interview or employment on disclosure of wage history," or retaliate against someone who does not answer.
• The city may not rely on wage history "at any stage in the employment process," including negotiation, "unless such applicant knowingly and willingly disclosed" it.
• City job applications may not ask about wage history.

"Employer" in the article means "the City of Columbia as a municipal corporation," and "wages" includes fringe benefits and other compensation. Private employers are not bound. City vendors are in between: under section 2-355, the city "encourages" vendors to adopt consistent wage history policies, and the awarding authority "can review all vendors' conviction and wage history policies" during bidding, use them as award criteria, and evaluate a vendor's execution of them as contract performance criteria. If you bid for Columbia work, expect the question.

We searched the Charleston, Greenville and North Charleston codes on Municode for "salary history" and "wage history" in October 2026 and found no comparable provision.

Can South Carolina cities pass their own salary history bans?

South Carolina does have a preemption statute for employment, but it is about benefits. S.C. Code 41-1-25, added by 2017 Act No. 3, says a political subdivision "may not establish, mandate, or otherwise require an employee benefit," defined as anything of value beyond wages such as health, leave and retirement benefits. It does not mention hiring questions, and we found no South Carolina statute that addresses local salary history rules either way. Columbia's article, for its part, governs only the city's own hiring and the city's choices as a buyer of goods and services; it does not try to regulate private employers directly.

Which federal rules still apply in South Carolina?

• The Equal Pay Act. 29 U.S.C. 206(d)(1) bars paying one sex less for equal work unless the difference rests on a seniority system, a merit system, a production-based system, or "a differential based on any other factor other than sex." The employer has to prove the defense.
• The EEOC's position on prior pay. The EEOC Compliance Manual section on compensation discrimination, issued in 2000 and still published on eeoc.gov as of October 2026, says: "Prior salary cannot, by itself, justify a compensation disparity." It adds that the defense can succeed if the employer shows sex was not a factor and that other factors were also considered.
• Title VII. 42 U.S.C. 2000e-2(a) bars discrimination in compensation for employers with 15 or more employees, alongside South Carolina's own section 1-13-80.

None of these bans the question. All of them make "we matched her old salary" a weak reason for a pay gap.

What about remote roles and candidates in other states?

A South Carolina employer is not automatically outside other states' laws. If the person you hire will work in a state with a ban, that state's law is the one to check. Colorado's ban, for example, covers every employer with someone working in Colorado; see the Colorado salary history ban and the full list in salary history ban states. Remote postings raise the same issue for pay ranges, covered in pay transparency for remote jobs.

Should a South Carolina recruiter ask about current pay?

What should staffing agencies in South Carolina do?

Agency recruiters fill roles across state lines, which is why a single "never ask" process is easier than a state-by-state one. Practical steps:

• Take current-salary fields out of intake forms and the candidate submittal template, and replace them with "expected compensation."
• Keep pay off reference calls; the reference call script works without it. South Carolina references may offer it anyway, so decide in advance not to write it down.
• If you supply staff on a City of Columbia contract, ask the client whether its contract includes the city's wage history standards.
• Licensing and work authorization checks for agencies are covered in South Carolina staffing agency licensing and E-Verify requirements in South Carolina.

A South Carolina script

Opening the pay topic

"The range for this role is $58,000 to $66,000 plus benefits (example figures). What are you looking for?" More wording is in salary expectation questions.

When the candidate volunteers current pay

"Thanks. We set pay from the role and the range rather than from current salary, so the number that matters is what you need to make the move." Record the expectation, not the history.

When a reference starts to share pay

"You don't need to give me pay details. I'm calling about her work on the team."

When the client asks what the candidate earns now

"I don't collect current pay, partly because several states we recruit in ban it. Her expectation is $64,000."

South Carolina summary

South Carolina checklist

1. Decide as a policy not to ask about current or past pay, even though South Carolina allows it.
2. Share the range first and ask for expectations.
3. Keep volunteered figures, including ones from references, out of notes and submittals; see what not to write in interview notes.
4. Write down the job-related reasons for each offer, so the Equal Pay Act defense does not rest on prior pay.
5. For remote roles, check the law where the person will work.
6. If you contract with the City of Columbia, keep a written wage history policy that matches section 2-354.