Atlanta mayor bans salary history questions on city job application

Prospective hires to the city of Atlanta will no longer have to answer questions about the history of their salaries on their job applications.

Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms banned the questions Monday in an effort to prevent wage discrimination and close the gender pay gap, according to a city news release.

“Too often, salary history can trap employees in an unfair earnings cycle based on history rather than their skill set,” Bottoms said in a statement. “Now, employees can be compensated based on their qualifications, experience and merit.”

According to the Pew Research Center, women earn 83 cents for every dollar their men earn. The wage gape widens for women of color. Black women earn 64 cents and Latinas 58 cents for every dollar their white male counterparts earn.

The salary ban comes five years after the city of Atlanta passed "ban the box" legislation, which no longer required people with criminal convictions to disclose that information on job applications.

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