can a potential employer ask your current employer about your salary?

Question

when applying for a job, I am wondering what the HR dept of the place you applied will ask your former places of employment.

Answer 1

Forget state law...Federal Law only allows employers to confirm that you worked for the company and the dates you worked there. That is all...no salary information, no performance reports...nothing else!

Answer 2

They can ask, however, they will not be told. By Law, the only information your current employer can tell a potential employer is to confirm you actually work with them. Nothing more.

Answer 3

I may be out-of-date on this, but when I was a department manager and hiring new employees, I could only ask former or current employers the dates the employee worked for them.

I couldn't ask if they would recommend them for a job. I couldn't even ask if they were eligible for re-hire. And I certainly couldn't ask about their pay. I had to rely on what they had written on their application.

You could check into the FLSA regulations (assuming you're in the U.S.!) for this and other questions about hiring practices. (You might want to ask this question in one of the legal forums, too.) Like I said, I might be a little behind the times if the laws have changed.

Answer 4

That depends upon the state you live in. In most states former employers are only legally allowed to verify dates of employment.

Answer 5

They probably won't ask but the former employer probably won't tell them. If you told the new company your salary they may confirm your salary with a yes or no answer.