Vermont salary history ban: 21 V.S.A. 495m for recruiters

Vermont has barred employers from asking job candidates about current or past compensation since July 1, 2018. The rule is 21 V.S.A. section 495m, added by Act 126 of 2018. It is short, but it does three separate things recruiters should know: it bans the question, it bans screening on pay (including deciding whom to interview), and it defines compensation widely enough to include bonuses and equity. It also has a narrow route for confirming a figure the candidate volunteered, once an offer has been made.

The statute

Under section 495m(a), an employer shall not:

1. "inquire about or seek information regarding a prospective employee's current or past compensation from either the prospective employee or a current or former employer of the prospective employee";
2. "require that a prospective employee's current or past compensation satisfy minimum or maximum criteria"; or
3. "determine whether to interview a prospective employee based on the prospective employee's current or past compensation."

"Compensation" is defined in subsection (d) to include "wages, salary, bonuses, benefits, fringe benefits, and equity-based compensation." Act 126 was signed on May 11, 2018 and took effect July 1, 2018.

Who is covered, including recruiters

Section 495m sits in Vermont's fair employment practices subchapter, which shares definitions in section 495d. An "employer" is any individual, organization or governmental body doing business or operating in Vermont "and any agent of such employer, that has one or more individuals performing services for it within this State."

Two points follow. First, there is no meaningful size threshold: one person performing services in Vermont is enough. Second, the agent language means an agency recruiter asking for the client is inside the definition of employer. The subchapter also defines "employment agency" broadly, including anyone who "at the direction of any employer advertises, locates, advises, classifies, trains, refers, or selects persons."

What is banned and what is allowed

The volunteered-pay route, step by step

Subsection (b) says that if a prospective employee "voluntarily discloses information about his or her current or past compensation," the employer may, "after making an offer of employment with compensation," seek to confirm it or ask the candidate to confirm it. Three conditions are built in:

1. The disclosure was voluntary, not a response to a question about history.
2. An offer with compensation has already been made.
3. The action is confirmation of the information disclosed, not a broader search.

The section does not say whether the employer may then use the confirmed figure to change the offer. Vermont also has an equal pay provision in the same subchapter, so moving an offer because of prior pay carries risk. For most desks the cleanest practice is not to confirm anything and to keep any volunteered figure out of notes and submittals; see what not to write in interview notes.

Equity and bonuses: plan the offer without asking values

Because equity-based compensation and bonuses count as compensation, "how much will you leave on the table?" is a history question in Vermont. You can still plan around timing without asking for values: tell the candidate the range, ask what they need to make a move, and ask when they would be free to start. Candidates with vesting or bonus dates will usually mention them as timing constraints. Record the constraint ("bonus pays in March; prefers April start"), not the amount. The approach is the same as in Connecticut, whose statute expressly allows asking about compensation structure but not value.

How it fits with Vermont's pay range law

Section 495p requires any advertisement of a Vermont job opening to include the compensation or range of compensation, for employers with five or more employees. Commission-based roles must say so, and tipped roles must disclose that fact and the base wage or range. Taken together, the two sections mean the employer's number comes first and the candidate's old number does not come up. Details, including remote roles, are in our Vermont pay transparency guide.

Enforcement

• The State. Under section 495b(a)(1), the Attorney General or a State's Attorney may enforce the subchapter by restraining prohibited acts, seeking civil penalties, obtaining assurances of discontinuance and conducting investigations, using the consumer protection procedures in 9 V.S.A. §§ 2458 to 2461. Section 2458 allows a civil penalty of up to $10,000 for each violation.
• Private suits. Under section 495b(b), any person aggrieved by a violation may sue in Superior Court for compensatory and punitive damages or equitable relief, costs, reasonable attorney's fees and other relief.

Shortlisting without pay criteria

Subdivision (a)(3) is the part of section 495m that agencies most often trip over without asking a single question. It bars an employer, which in Vermont includes its agents, from deciding "whether to interview a prospective employee based on the prospective employee's current or past compensation." That reaches several common habits:

• Filtering a database search by "current salary" fields captured from an old placement or a job board profile.
• Telling a client "she's on too much for this budget, so I didn't put her forward" when the estimate came from her history rather than her stated requirements.
• Sorting a shortlist by what candidates earn now.

The lawful alternative is to shortlist on the candidate's stated requirements against the posted range, which subsection (c)(1) expressly allows you to ask about. If a candidate's requirement is above the range, say so and let them decide. If your database holds pay figures from earlier searches, consider hiding or purging them for Vermont searches so nobody filters on them by accident.

Agency intake for Vermont roles

• Get the range in writing before advertising; if the client has five or more employees, every ad needs it.
• Agree that the client will not ask you or the candidate about current or past compensation, including bonus and equity.
• Agree what the submittal shows: requirements, notice period and timing constraints, never values. A candidate submittal template without a current-salary field helps.
• If the client wants to confirm a volunteered figure, agree that it happens only after a written offer with compensation, and that the client does it, not you.

A Vermont script

Raising pay

"The posted range is $58,000 to $66,000 plus benefits (example figures). What are your salary requirements?"

When the candidate asks if you need their current pay

"No, Vermont doesn't let us ask that, and it includes bonus and equity. Just tell me what you need."

When the client asks

"I can't ask in Vermont, as your recruiter or otherwise. He needs $64,000, and his bonus pays out at the end of March, so an April start works best."

For candidates who question the range, see how recruiters answer candidate salary questions.

Vermont checklist

1. Remove current and past compensation fields, including bonus and equity, from forms and intake templates.
2. Do not shortlist on current pay; shortlist on fit with the posted range and the candidate's requirements.
3. Put the range in every Vermont ad if the employer has five or more employees.
4. Ask expectations with the wording in salary expectation questions.
5. Only confirm volunteered pay after an offer, and only if there is a real reason.

For the other states, see salary history ban states.