South Dakota salary history ban: no state law, an equal pay list with no prior-pay defense, and Minnesota's ban on the Sioux Falls border

South Dakota has no law that bars employers from asking job candidates about their salary history, as of November 2026. SDCL Title 60, the labor title, contains no provision on salary, wage or compensation history, and no bill on the subject appears among the 2025 or 2026 session bills. What makes pay history a poor basis for an offer in South Dakota is the 1966 equal pay statute: SDCL 60-12-16 lists only four reasons a pay difference for comparable work is allowed, and prior salary is not one of them. For jobs on the Minnesota side of the Sioux Falls labor market, Minnesota's ban applies.

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

No. We searched the full text of SDCL Title 60 in November 2026 for "salary history," "wage history," "compensation history," "pay history" and "prior salary" and found nothing. The Legislature's bill lists for the 2025 session and the 2026 session include bills on teacher and state employee pay, E-Verify and employment contracts, but none on salary history or pay ranges. Private and public employers may ask, and a candidate may decline.

That matches our guide to hiring employees in South Dakota and South Dakota background check laws.

Why is prior pay a weak basis for an offer under South Dakota law?

Because of how the equal pay statute is built. SDCL 60-12-15 bars paying an employee less than an employee of the opposite sex "for comparable work on jobs which have comparable requirements relating to skill, effort, and responsibility, but not to physical strength." The only exceptions, in SDCL 60-12-16, are differentials "paid pursuant to established seniority systems, job descriptive systems, merit increase systems, or executive training programs, which do not discriminate on the basis of sex."

Put plainly: if a South Dakota employer matched each new hire's previous salary and that produced a lower rate for a woman doing comparable work, the statute's list gives it nothing to point to. The remedy is the unpaid wages plus attorney fees and costs at the court's discretion (SDCL 60-12-18), within two years (SDCL 60-12-20), and employers of more than 25 people must keep wage and job classification records (SDCL 60-12-17). Our South Dakota pay transparency page covers the rest of the chapter.

Does South Dakota's Human Relations Act reach recruiters?

Yes, and it is worded broadly. SDCL 20-13-10 makes it an unfair or discriminatory practice "for any person," because of race, color, creed, religion, sex, ancestry, disability or national origin, to accord unequal treatment "with respect to application, hiring, training, apprenticeship, tenure, promotion, upgrading, compensation, layoff, or any term or condition of employment." Section 20-13-11 applies the same grounds to employment agencies in applications, referrals and job listings, and SDCL 20-13-1 defines an employer as anyone in the state who hires or employs any employee, or anyone elsewhere who employs someone whose services are performed partly or wholly in South Dakota.

What can a former employer share in South Dakota?

Less than in North Dakota. SDCL 60-4-12 protects an employer "who in writing, discloses information about the job performance of an employee or former employee to a prospective employer of that person at the written request of the prospective employer or the employee or former employee." That employer "is presumed to be acting in good faith" unless lack of good faith is shown "by clear and convincing evidence," and "Any written response to the written request shall be made available to the employee or the former employee upon written request."

Three things follow. The protection covers written requests and written answers, not phone calls. It covers job performance and says nothing about pay. And the candidate can ask to see what was said. North Dakota's statute, by contrast, expressly protects disclosing "pay level" and "wage history"; see the North Dakota page. A South Dakota reference request that sticks to dates, title and performance is the cleaner request.

Do South Dakota cities have salary history rules?

We found none. In November 2026 we searched the Sioux Falls code on American Legal Publishing and the Aberdeen and Brookings codes on Municode for "salary history," "wage history," "compensation history" and "pay history," with no results. We did not check the Rapid City code for this page.

Which federal rules apply in South Dakota?

• Equal Pay Act and the Eighth Circuit. In Drum v. Leeson Electric Corp. (8th Cir., May 15, 2009), the court said that when prior salary is asserted as a defense, it "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," and it reversed summary judgment for the employer.
• EEOC. The Compliance Manual section on compensation discrimination, on eeoc.gov as of November 2026, says "Prior salary cannot, by itself, justify a compensation disparity."
• Title VII. 42 U.S.C. 2000e-2(a) bars compensation discrimination by employers with 15 or more employees.
• Federal contractors. The OFCCP pay transparency rule, 41 CFR 60-1.35, is gone: Executive Order 14173 revoked Executive Order 11246, and the Labor Department removed part 60-1 effective October 26, 2026 (91 FR 54444). The National Labor Relations Act still protects most private-sector employees who discuss their wages.

Do neighboring states' bans reach South Dakota recruiters?

• Minnesota. Minn. Stat. 363A.08, subdivision 8 has barred employers, employment agencies and labor organizations from asking about pay history since January 1, 2024, including getting it "from any source." A Sioux Falls or Watertown desk filling a role in southwestern Minnesota works under it; see the Minnesota salary history ban.
• Iowa. No statewide ban, and Iowa Code 364.3(12) keeps its cities from adding one; see the Iowa page.
• North Dakota and Wyoming. No bans; see North Dakota and Wyoming.

Remote postings raise the matching pay range question, covered in pay transparency for remote jobs.

Should a South Dakota recruiter ask about current pay?

Agency licensing and other screening rules are in South Dakota staffing agency licensing and E-Verify requirements in South Dakota.

A South Dakota script

Opening the pay topic

"This role pays $55,000 to $63,000 plus benefits (example figures). What are you looking for?" More wording is in salary expectation questions.

When the hiring manager wants to match the candidate's old salary

"South Dakota's equal pay law only lists seniority, job descriptive, merit and training systems as reasons for a pay difference. Let's place her in the band by her experience and write that down."

Requesting a reference

"Could you confirm in writing her dates, title and how she performed? We don't need salary information."

South Dakota summary

South Dakota checklist

1. Adopt a no-pay-history policy even though South Dakota allows the question.
2. Set starting pay from a band or job description system, the kind of system SDCL 60-12-16 recognizes.
3. Make reference requests in writing and limit them to dates, title and performance.
4. Keep volunteered figures out of notes and submittals; see what not to write in interview notes.
5. Treat every Minnesota-side job under Minnesota's ban; the full list is in salary history ban states.