Sent on behalf of Christopher Delello, Associate Vice President & Chief Human Resources Officer.
Dear Colleagues,
State statute prohibits employers from inquiring into job applicants’ wage and salary history and the value of previous compensation structures. This is an effort by the legislature to increase pay equity at all employers, public and private, in Connecticut.
What does this mean for job searches at UConn?
Hiring officials, search committees, and others involved in the search and hiring process must avoid asking about applicants’ compensation history. This includes both wages and questions about the value of supplemental or indirect compensation, such as “start-up” packages. “Start-up” packages, which are often institutional commitments rather than direct compensation, are part of an employee’s compensation for the purposes of this statute. While the law prevents employers from inquiring into the value of such previous compensation components, the law allows applicants to disclose their compensation history and allows employers to ask about the structure of earlier compensation packages. In other words, it is permissible to ask if an applicant had a “start-up” package at their previous position, but it is impermissible to ask how much (i.e., the value) the employee received from the “start-up” package. In addition, it is impermissible for UConn to inquire with an applicant’s current or former employers about compensation history. However, for internal job candidates, hiring managers may request salary history from Human Resources, as this is publicly available data.
If you have any questions, please direct them to Human Resources at hr@uconn.edu.
Thank you,
Christopher Delello
Associate Vice President & Chief Human Resources Officer
For more information, contact: Human Resources at hr@uconn.edu