Salary questions increasingly taboo in interviews

It's the interview question that job candidates love to hate: What's your salary history?

The good news is that in a growing number of states and cities, that question is now banned — often prohibited as part of new pay-equity laws and designed to help close the pay gap by stopping salaries from being set based on past ones.

The bad news, however, is that employment lawyers, salary-negotiation experts and employee-rights advocates say it is probably still getting asked in some cases — whether by naive or rogue hiring managers — and that violations of salary-history questions posed behind closed doors could prove difficult to police.

The state and local laws have proliferated widely since Massachusetts became the first state to pass such legislation in 2016. In September, salary history bans or laws that protect job candidates who refuse to answer questions about past pay will become effective in three more states: Illinois, Maine and Alabama. That will bring the tally of statewide bans to 14 plus Puerto Rico, according to the National Women's Law Center.

If candidates do get the salary question where it's banned, experts say they should answer with a little deflection — and a lot of tact.

If you call out an interviewer for asking a banned question, said Kimberly Churches, CEO of the American Association of University Women, "you lose that ability of keeping things civil."

If asked about salary history — whatever state you live in — her organization suggests saying something like, "This position is not exactly the same as my last job. I'd like to discuss what my responsibilities would be here and then determine a fair salary for this job."

Some experts said the inability to ask about salary history is likely to lead to more questions about salary "expectations," which are permitted. While you may be forced to name a number you hope to make — backed up by research and homework, experts advised — asking for a range is another advisable step.

"(A ban is) not a perfect solution, but the hope is that by ensuring that it's not a standardized question," it will help close the pay gap, said Emily Martin with the National Women's Law Center. She said it's striking how many states have already picked up on the idea. "People understand this as an issue that goes to fundamental fairness about work and power and recognize the idea that you should have some control over this information."