SUBJECT:

Guidelines for Academic Recruitments - Assembly Bill 168 Prohibits Inquiries About and Reliance Upon Salary History in Employment Decisions

Assembly Bill 168, effective January 1, 2018, prohibits California employers and their agents from inquiring about or relying upon an applicant's salary history as a factor in determining salary or whether to offer employment. Salary history information includes an applicant's rate of compensation as well as other benefits. Employers are also required to provide the pay scale for a position to an applicant upon reasonable request (http://bit.ly/2GRLPrh).

Under the law, applicants can voluntarily and without prompting provide their salary history to the University, and the University is not prohibited from considering such information in determining salary for that applicant. The University may also review and consider salary history information that is publicly available pursuant to federal or state law, including the California Public Records Act. However, in all cases, salary history alone cannot justify any disparity in compensation for substantially similar work, in accordance with California's Equal Pay Act (https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/California_Equal_Pay_Act.htm).

Guidelines for the application of AB 168 to academic recruitments are available on the Academic Personnel Services website:

http://go.ucsd.edu/2E2sztI

If you have questions about AB 168 as it relates to the academic recruitment process, please contact Kelly Lindlar, Director of Academic Policy Development, at klindlar@ucsd.edu.

Cindy Palmer Assistant Vice Chancellor Academic Personnel Services