West Virginia salary history ban: no state law, the Fair Pay Act's wage history rules that stalled, and Virginia's 2026 ban

West Virginia has no law that bars employers from asking job candidates about their salary history, as of November 2026. The Katherine Johnson and Dorothy Vaughan Fair Pay Act would have limited the question to after an offer, but it stopped at referral to the House Judiciary Committee as HB 2826 in 2025 and again as HB 5116 in 2026. The state's own equal pay article does not even reach employers covered by the federal Equal Pay Act, so for most private employers the limits on using pay history are federal. The bans that West Virginia recruiters meet most are next door: Virginia's, in force since July 1, 2026, and Maryland's.

Is it illegal to ask about salary history in West Virginia?

No. Chapter 21 of the Code, the labor chapter, has articles on wage payment, equal pay, minimum wage, employee social media and worker classification, but no salary history article. In November 2026 we searched the titles of every 2025 and 2026 regular session bill on the Legislature's bill status system for salary history, wage history, pay equity and pay ranges; the only bills on salary history were the two Fair Pay Act bills below. Private and public employers may ask, and a candidate may decline.

That matches our guide to hiring employees in West Virginia and West Virginia background check laws.

What would the Fair Pay Act have done about wage history?

Both bills would have added a new article 21-5J. The introduced text of HB 5116, by Delegate Young, introduced February 3, 2026, put the wage history rules in section 21-5J-3:

• (b) An employer "may not retaliate against or refuse to interview, hire, or employ an applicant for employment because the applicant: (1) Did not provide a history of wages, benefits, or other compensation earned in previous employment; or (2) Requested the range" for the position.
• (c) An employer "may not inquire of the applicant about past wages, benefits, or other compensation without complying with the provisions contained in subsection (d)."
• (d) After "an initial offer of employment with an offer of compensation," the employer could rely on, or seek to confirm, "the wage history voluntarily provided by the applicant for employment to support a wage offer higher than the initial wage offered by the employer."
• (e) The applicant could always share wage history voluntarily.

The design matches Maryland's: history can move an offer up, never down. The 2025 version, HB 2826 by Delegates Young and Hamilton, was introduced February 24, 2025; the 2026 version's bill history likewise ends at "To House Judiciary." Neither is law. The bills' range-on-request and pay discussion provisions are covered on our West Virginia pay transparency page.

Why does federal law do the equal pay work in West Virginia?

Because of one proviso. W. Va. Code 21-5B-3 bars paying one sex less "for work of comparable character, the performance of which requires comparable skills," with exceptions for a seniority or merit system and for a differential "based in good faith on factors other than sex." But the definition in 21-5B-1 says employer "shall not include any individual, corporation, business trust, or similar unit whose operations are subject to any federal act relating to equal wages for equal work, regardless of sex." It also excludes the state itself, and municipalities and political subdivisions with a merit-based civil service system.

For employers outside that exclusion, the remedy under 21-5B-4 is the unpaid wages "for the one-year period preceding the commencement of the action" plus an equal amount of liquidated damages. For everyone else, the federal Equal Pay Act and the state Human Rights Act, which our pay transparency page notes now sits in chapter 16B, article 17 of the Code, are the rules that apply to an offer priced from prior pay.

Do West Virginia cities have salary history rules?

We found none. In November 2026 we searched the Charleston, Huntington and Morgantown codes on Municode and the Parkersburg and Wheeling codes on American Legal Publishing for "salary history," "wage history," "compensation history" and "pay history," with no results.

Which federal rules apply in West Virginia?

• Equal Pay Act. 29 U.S.C. 206(d)(1) allows a pay difference for equal work only under a seniority, merit or production system or "a differential based on any other factor other than sex."
• EEOC. The Compliance Manual section on compensation discrimination, still on eeoc.gov as of November 2026, says "Prior salary cannot, by itself, justify a compensation disparity," because prior salaries "can reflect sex-based compensation discrimination."
• 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, no longer applies: 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.

Which neighboring bans reach West Virginia recruiters?

West Virginia borders five states, and its recruiters fill jobs in all of them. For a job located in one of them:

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

Should a West Virginia recruiter ask about current pay?

Agency licensing and other screening rules are in West Virginia staffing agency licensing and E-Verify requirements in West Virginia.

A West Virginia script

Opening the pay topic

"This role pays $54,000 to $62,000 plus benefits (example figures). What would you need to make a move?" More wording is in salary expectation questions.

When a Virginia client asks what the candidate earns now

"Virginia's law doesn't let us ask that anymore, and it applies to us as your recruiter too. His expectation is $60,000."

When a West Virginia candidate volunteers current pay

"Thanks. We set pay from the role, so I'll pass on what you're looking for." Record the expectation only.

West Virginia summary

West Virginia checklist

1. Adopt a no-pay-history policy for every desk, since Virginia and Maryland jobs are covered by bans.
2. Share the range first and ask for expectations.
3. Record the job-related reason for each offer; do not let prior pay explain a gap.
4. Keep volunteered figures out of notes and submittals; see what not to write in interview notes.
5. Check the state, and for Ohio and Pennsylvania the city, where each job is located; the full list is in salary history ban states.