Roundup: US employer resources on states’ recent equal pay laws 

The federal Equal Pay Act of 1963 requires that men and women in the same workplace receive equal pay for equal work. In recent years, many states have taken further efforts to address equal pay, such as enacting laws that prohibit employers from asking job applicants about salary history, requiring disclosure of salary ranges and pay data, protecting employees who disclose their pay, expanding equal pay protections for characteristics other than sex, and broadening comparisons of work and pay. In 2023, New Jersey and Illinois expanded equal pay protections to temporary workers.

Stronger federal legislation — the Paycheck Fairness Act — was first introduced in 1997 but has failed to pass after numerous attempts — most recently in June 2021.

On March 15, 2022, the Biden administration also announced commitments to advance pay equity and in January 2024, it issued equal pay measures that will apply to federal contractors and the federal workforce. In January 2025, the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council formally withdrew its proposed rule regarding pay equity and transparency for federal contractors.

This roundup primarily focuses on recent state legislative initiatives pertaining to salary history bans and salary range disclosure requirements that affect private sector employers, and provides links to state resources from organizations, government websites, third-party resources and news articles. Certain cities have also taken action, but they are generally beyond the scope of this roundup.

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