On February 2, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) provided guidance and established the deadline for agencies to comply with new regulations prohibiting the use of a job applicant’s non-federal salary history for setting pay for a federal job. The new regulations take effect on April 1, but the deadline for compliance is October 1 to account for hiring process changes.

The new rules, which impact jobs in the General Schedule, Administrative Appeals Judge, Administrative Law Judge, prevailing rate, and more, apply to job candidates seeking federal employment for the first time, as well as those returning to the civil service after a break.

“Salary history is not necessarily a good indicator of worker value, experience and expertise, and it also may contain or exacerbate biases,” OPM Director Kiran Ahuja wrote in a memo. “Pay setting based on salary history may be inequitable, can perpetuate biases from job to job, and may contribute to a pay gap between the earnings of men and women. By eliminating a factor that may contain or exacerbate biases and that may be inconsistent with merit systems principles, the final regulations seek to promote pay equity consistent with [President Biden’s diversity] executive orders.”

To view the final rule from OPM, click here. To view OPM Director Ahuja’s memo, click here.