Yes, a new employer can verify your previous salary, but how they do it and whether they can use the number to set your pay are two different questions. Direct calls to a former employer rarely turn up pay figures; the more common route is an automated payroll database queried through a background check. And in more than 20 states and roughly two dozen cities and counties, employers are barred from asking about salary history at all. Federal law also gives you consent rights, notice rights, and a way to dispute wrong numbers whenever a third-party report is involved.
How Employers Actually Find Out What You Earned
There is a real difference between confirming you held a job and learning what you were paid. When a prospective employer phones your old company, most HR departments stick to a short script: dates of employment, job title, sometimes whether you’re eligible for rehire. They keep it narrow to avoid defamation and interference claims. A reference call, on its own, rarely reveals a salary.
The pay figures usually come from somewhere else — a third-party verification service. The largest is The Work Number, operated by Equifax Workforce Solutions, which pulls payroll data directly from thousands of employers and payroll processors.1Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The Work Number When a hiring company runs a background check, the screening firm queries the database with your Social Security number and can retrieve base pay, bonuses, and total compensation in seconds. Your former employer doesn’t need to approve each request; the data flows automatically from their payroll system into the database, and authorized verifiers pull it on demand.
Can They Legally Ask or Use It?
No federal law bans private employers from asking about past pay, but state and local laws increasingly do. As of mid-2025, roughly 22 states and 24 localities have some form of salary history ban. These laws typically prohibit asking on an application or in interviews, and prohibit using prior pay to decide what to offer you. The point is to keep an old low wage from anchoring every future offer.
The rules differ jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Some cover only public employers; others reach every private company. Some let an employer consider salary history if you volunteer it unprompted; others forbid relying on it even then. Penalties range from civil fines per violation to lawsuits for lost wages and attorney fees. Check your state or city labor department before your next job search, because these laws move.
Federal Workers
If you’re being hired into a federal role for the first time, an Office of Personnel Management rule effective April 1, 2024, bars agencies from setting your pay based on non-federal salary history for the General Schedule, Senior Executive Service, and several other pay systems. Agencies had to be in full compliance by October 1, 2024.2Federal Register. Advancing Pay Equity in Governmentwide Pay Systems
A parallel proposal that would have extended similar restrictions to federal contractors was withdrawn on January 8, 2025, before taking effect. Federal contractors are not currently subject to a federal salary history ban, though state and local bans may still apply to them.3Federal Register. Office of Federal Procurement Policy – Federal Acquisition Regulation – Pay Equity and Transparency in Federal Contracting
Your Rights When a Background Check Pulls Your Pay
Reports from services like The Work Number count as consumer reports under federal law, which means the Fair Credit Reporting Act applies whenever an employer uses a third-party company to verify employment or income for a hiring or promotion decision.
Written Consent Comes First
An employer cannot obtain your consumer report without giving you a clear written disclosure — in a standalone document, separate from the application — stating that a report may be pulled for employment purposes. You then have to authorize it in writing.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681b – Permissible Purposes of Consumer Reports If nobody asked you to sign one, the employer shouldn’t have your salary data from a screening firm.
Notice Before and After a Negative Decision
If something in the report might lead the employer to reject you, deny a promotion, or take another adverse action, they first have to send a pre-adverse-action notice with a copy of the report and a written summary of your rights.5Federal Trade Commission. Using Consumer Reports – What Employers Need to Know That window lets you review the report and flag errors before the decision is final.
If they go ahead with the adverse action, a second notice has to follow. It must name the screening company, state that the screening company didn’t make the hiring decision, and inform you of your right to dispute inaccurate information and request an additional free copy of the report within 60 days.5Federal Trade Commission. Using Consumer Reports – What Employers Need to Know
Fixing Wrong Numbers
Errors in payroll databases aren’t rare. A former employer may have reported the wrong pay rate, or a short stint may be missing. If you spot a mistake, contact the background reporting company with documentation of the correct figures. The company has to investigate and correct verified errors. After the fix, ask the screening company to send a corrected copy to the employer that received the original, and tell the employer directly. You can also report screening companies that keep errors in circulation to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.6Consumer Advice (FTC). Employer Background Checks and Your Rights
Blocking Access With a Data Freeze
You can block most verifiers from seeing your records on The Work Number by placing a data freeze at no cost. Start online at employees.theworknumber.com, call 1-800-367-2884, or mail or email a completed freeze form to Equifax.7Equifax / The Work Number. Freeze Your Data – The Work Number While the freeze is on, most verifiers, prospective employers included, can’t retrieve your data.
One caveat: a freeze can slow a hiring process. If a company can’t verify your income through its usual channels, it may ask you for documentation or ask you to lift the freeze temporarily. Government agencies checking benefits eligibility or handling child-support enforcement may still access your records despite the freeze. If you’re gearing up for a job search that will involve a background check, you can lift the freeze in advance and put it back afterward.
When You’re the One Sharing the Numbers
Sometimes salary comes up because you raised it. If you tell a recruiter your current pay is higher than the offer, they may ask you to prove it — usually with recent pay stubs, W-2 forms, or 1099 statements showing compensation for a pay period or tax year.8Internal Revenue Service. About Form W-2 Handing those over is voluntary; no employer can force you to.
Some offers are made contingent on verifying the income you cited in interviews. If the documents don’t match what you said, the company can lower the offer or pull it. Weigh the potential upside of a stronger negotiation against the privacy you give up. You can also redact material that isn’t relevant, such as a spouse’s income on a joint return, and still provide enough to back up your claim.
Pay Range Disclosures Are Changing the Conversation
The move away from salary history questions is paired with a push toward pay transparency. More than a dozen states now require employers to include a salary range in job postings, and several more have laws phasing in over the next few years. Size thresholds vary; some laws apply to employers with as few as four workers, others start at 15.
For a job seeker, published ranges close the information gap salary history questions used to fill. You can negotiate within a stated band based on your skills and the market rather than against what you happened to earn before. Even in places without a disclosure law, many national employers post ranges on every listing to stay consistent across jurisdictions.