>A better law would be that employers may not discriminate or refuse to hire someone if they refuse to tell them their previous salary.
To be honest, this does not seem like a better law at all. "You can ask about this information, but you can't use it" just means they'll come up with some other excuse for doing whatever they wanted to do all along. The problem isn't the "speech" itself, it's the demanding of information. Is it any different than saying a company can't ask about an applicant's religion?
Asking is different than demanding. They can't use it if they didn't receive an answer.
They can ask, and then the candidate can choose whether they want to answer or not. It may be beneficial to the candidate to answer, or they may not really care if the company knows.
It accomplishes the same thing but doesn't limit speech.
Sometimes a job candidate might even want them to ask so they can set the minimum bar of what they are looking for without appearing to bring up compensation first.
I would take the same stance with any of the other "can't ask" questions (they can ask, but can't demand).
BTW, there's no law that says an employer can't ask about religion, children, etc. The law says they can't discriminate. It's just recommended practice to not ask those questions to not give any evidence for a discrimination lawsuit.
The law says, "an unlawful employment practice is established when the complaining party demonstrates that race, color, religion, sex, or national origin was a motivating factor for any employment practice"
In California, there actually are prohibitions on asking certain kinds of questions of prospective employees:
The California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) prohibits any non-job-related inquiries of applicants or employees, either verbally or through the use of an application form, that express, directly or indirectly a limitation, specification or discrimination as to race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, marital status, sex, age, or sexual orientation, or any intent to make such a limitation, specification, or discrimination.
To be honest, this does not seem like a better law at all. "You can ask about this information, but you can't use it" just means they'll come up with some other excuse for doing whatever they wanted to do all along. The problem isn't the "speech" itself, it's the demanding of information. Is it any different than saying a company can't ask about an applicant's religion?