Washington salary history ban: RCW 49.58.100 for recruiters

Washington bars employers from seeking a job applicant's pay history, from the applicant or from a current or former employer, and from requiring that past pay meet a minimum or maximum. The rule is RCW 49.58.100, part of the Washington Equal Pay and Opportunities Act, in effect since July 28, 2019. It allows pay to be confirmed in two situations: when the candidate volunteers it, or after an offer with compensation has been negotiated and made. Its remedies have a floor that makes a single bad question expensive: statutory damages of at least $5,000.

The statute

RCW 49.58.100 reads, in full on the core points:

"(1) An employer may not: (a) Seek the wage or salary history of an applicant for employment from the applicant or a current or former employer; or (b) Require that an applicant's prior wage or salary history meet certain criteria, except as provided in subsection (2) of this section.

(2) An employer may confirm an applicant's wage or salary history: (a) If the applicant has voluntarily disclosed the applicant's wage or salary history; or (b) After the employer has negotiated and made an offer of employment with compensation to the applicant."

The Legislature's findings in RCW 49.58.005 explain the purpose: the "long-held business practice of inquiring about salary history has contributed to persistent earning inequalities."

Who is covered

• Employers with one or more employees in Washington. RCW 49.58.010(5) defines employer as any person or business entity that engages in business in the state "and employs one or more employees," plus state and local government. The history ban has no larger threshold; the 15-employee test applies only to the posting rules in 49.58.110.
• Recruiters and staffing agencies. Section 49.58.100 does not use the word "agent" or name agencies. A staffing firm with employees in Washington is an employer itself. A recruiter asking on a client's behalf is collecting exactly what the client is barred from seeking, and we would treat the question as the client's. That is our reading; the statute does not say it expressly.
• Applicants. The ban protects applicants for employment.

What Labor and Industries adds

The Department of Labor and Industries' administrative policy ES.E.1 (revised February 18, 2026) makes three practical points:

• Employers "cannot ask about a job applicant's salary history in a job application, even if the question is optional."
• The criteria ban means, for example, that employers cannot require a minimum previous salary to be considered.
• Applicants can choose to disclose pay history, "but only if the disclosure is voluntary," and the employer may then confirm it.

The optional-question point matters for recruiters who use national application forms or intake questionnaires. A field labeled "current salary (optional)" is still seeking.

What is banned and what is allowed

The statute speaks about seeking and confirming. It does not separately ban "relying" on history the way New York or Colorado do. That is not a license to anchor offers on a volunteered number. Under RCW 49.58.020, a pay gap between similarly employed people of different genders or protected classes must rest on bona fide job-related factors, the employer carries the burden of proving them, and section 49.58.020(3)(d) says "an individual's previous wage or salary history is not a defense." An offer anchored on an old salary leaves the employer without that defense.

How it works with Washington's pay range law

RCW 49.58.110 requires employers with 15 or more employees to put the wage scale or salary range, or a fixed wage, and a general description of benefits and other compensation in each posting, including postings made through a third party. For postings from July 27, 2025 through July 27, 2027, employers get a five-business-day chance to correct a posting after written notice before applicants can seek remedies. Our Washington pay transparency guide covers the details. The range in the posting is the number your screening conversation should start from.

Enforcement and penalties

RCW 49.58.100(3) gives an individual "the remedies in RCW 49.58.060 and 49.58.070" for violations, with wages and interest calculated from the first date wages were owed.

• Lawsuit (49.58.070). Actual damages; "statutory damages equal to the actual damages or five thousand dollars, whichever is greater"; interest of one percent per month on compensation owed; and costs and reasonable attorneys' fees. Courts may order reinstatement and injunctive relief. The suit must be filed within three years.
• Labor and Industries (49.58.060). After an investigation and failed conciliation, the director may order the same categories of damages, investigation costs and a civil penalty of up to $500 for a first violation, or up to $1,000 or ten percent of damages, whichever is greater, for a repeat violation.

Because statutory damages start at $5,000 in a lawsuit, a habit of asking current salary on every screen is a real exposure even when no one was underpaid as a result.

The "what do you make now?" moment: a script

Instead of asking

"The range for this role is $105,000 to $125,000, with medical, dental, vision and an annual bonus target of 10% (example figures). What are you looking for?"

When the candidate volunteers it

"Thanks. You don't have to share that, and we don't base offers on it. What number would make you say yes?"

Washington lets the employer confirm a volunteered figure, but you rarely need to, and recording it invites someone to use it. Keep it out of your notes; see what not to write in interview notes.

When the client wants to verify pay

"Washington allows confirming pay history only if the candidate volunteered it or after you've made an offer with compensation. If you still want to verify after the offer, I'll ask the candidate for permission and let them provide it."

At the offer stage

Once an offer has been negotiated and made, verification is allowed. The offer call script works best if pay history never enters the conversation at all: negotiate from the range and the candidate's stated expectation.

Where agency desks get caught

Staffing and search desks rarely ask the question in a formal interview. It slips in through the tools around the call:

• Candidate registration forms. Many agency sign-up forms ask for "current or most recent pay" so the desk can match candidates to orders. For anyone who might be placed in Washington, replace it with "desired pay" and "lowest pay you would accept."
• Rate questions on contract roles. "What are you billing now?" is a history question for a contractor. "What rate are you looking for on this assignment?" is not.
• Client submittal templates. A "current package" line in a submittal invites the recruiter to fill it in. Change it to "expectation" and "notice period."
• Reference calls. Asking a former manager to confirm title, dates and pay before an offer is seeking history from a former employer. Drop the pay question; the reference check template works without it.

A Washington checklist

1. Delete current-salary fields from applications, including optional ones.
2. Remove minimum-prior-salary screens from job requirements and knockout questions.
3. Lead with the posted range, then ask expectations; see salary expectation questions.
4. Do not ask former employers or references about pay before an offer.
5. Confirm pay only in the two situations the statute allows, and only if it is genuinely needed.

Compare Washington with states that allow no confirmation at all in salary history ban states.