I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2242 

To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to prohibit certain practices 

by employers relating to restrictions on discussion of employees’ and 

prospective employees’ salary and benefit history, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 26, 2021 

Ms. NORTON introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Education and Labor 

A BILL 

To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to prohibit 

certain practices by employers relating to restrictions 

on discussion of employees’ and prospective employees’ 

salary and benefit history, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Pay Equity for All 

5 Act of 2021’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PROHIBITIONS RELATING TO PROSPECTIVE EM2 PLOYEES’ SALARY AND BENEFIT HISTORY. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Fair Labor Standards Act of 

4 1938 (29 U.S.C. 201 et seq.) is amended by inserting 

5 after section 7 the following new section: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 8. REQUIREMENTS AND PROHIBITIONS RELATING TO 

7 WAGE, SALARY, AND BENEFIT HISTORY. 

8 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—It shall be an unlawful practice 

9 for an employer to— 

10 ‘‘(1) rely on the wage history of a prospective 

11 employee in considering the prospective employee for 

12 employment, including requiring that a prospective 

13 employee’s prior wages satisfy minimum or max14 imum criteria as a condition of being considered for 

15 employment; 

16 ‘‘(2) rely on the wage history of a prospective 

17 employee in determining the wages for such prospec18 tive employee, except that an employer may rely on 

19 wage history if it is voluntarily provided by a pro20 spective employee, after the employer makes an offer 

21 of employment with an offer of compensation to the 

22 prospective employee, to support a wage higher than 

23 the wage offered by the employer; 

24 ‘‘(3) seek from a prospective employee or any 

25 current or former employer the wage history of the 

26 prospective employee, except that an employer may 


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1 seek to confirm prior wage information only after an 

2 offer of employment with compensation has been 

3 made to the prospective employee and the prospec4 tive employee responds to the offer by providing 

5 prior wage information to support a wage higher 

6 than that offered by the employer; or 

7 ‘‘(4) discharge or in any other manner retaliate 

8 against any employee or prospective employee be9 cause the employee or prospective employee— 

10 ‘‘(A) opposed any act or practice made un11 lawful by this section; or 

12 ‘‘(B) took an action for which discrimina13 tion is forbidden under section 15(a)(3). 

14 ‘‘(b) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘wage 

15 history’ means the wages paid to the prospective employee 

16 by the prospective employee’s current employer or previous 

17 employer.’’. 

18 (b) PENALTIES.—Section 16 of such Act (29 U.S.C. 

19 216) is amended by adding at the end the following new 

20 subsection: 

21 ‘‘(f)(1) Any person who violates the provisions of sec22 tion 8 shall— 

23 ‘‘(A) be subject to a civil penalty of $5,000 for 

24 a first offense, increased by an additional $1,000 for 

25 each subsequent offense, not to exceed $10,000; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) be liable to each employee or prospective 

2 employee who was the subject of the violation for 

3 special damages not to exceed $10,000 plus attor4 neys’ fees, and shall be subject to such injunctive re5 lief as may be appropriate. 

6 ‘‘(2) An action to recover the liability described in 

7 paragraph (1)(B) may be maintained against any em8 ployer (including a public agency) in any Federal or State 

9 court of competent jurisdiction by any one or more em10 ployees or prospective employees for and on behalf of— 

11 ‘‘(A) the employees or prospective employees; 

12 and 

13 ‘‘(B) other employees or prospective employees 

14 similarly situated.’’. 

Æ 


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