Toledo salary history ban for employers (2026): the Pay Equity Act and the pay scale request

Toledo bars employers located in the city with 15 or more employees there, including employment agencies, from asking job applicants about their salary history, screening them on it, relying on it to make or set an offer, or penalizing an applicant who will not disclose it. The rule is the Pay Equity Act, Toledo Municipal Code chapter 768, enacted by Ordinance 173-19 (passed June 26, 2019) and in force since mid-2020, as of November 2026. Employers must also give the job's pay scale, on reasonable request, to an applicant with a conditional offer. Toledo requires no pay range in postings, and the only remedy is the applicant's own lawsuit, filed within two years.

What does Toledo's Pay Equity Act prohibit?

Section 768.02(a) makes it "an unlawful discriminatory practice for an Employer" to:

1. inquire about the salary history of an applicant for employment;
2. screen applicants on current or prior wages, benefits, other compensation or salary history, "including requiring that an Applicant's prior wages, benefits, other compensation or Salary History satisfy minimum or maximum criteria";
3. rely on salary history in deciding whether to offer a job, or in setting salary, benefits or other compensation "during the hiring process, including the negotiation of an employment contract"; or
4. refuse to hire, disfavor, injure or retaliate against an applicant for not disclosing it.

Under the definitions in 768.01, "Salary History" includes "current or prior wage, benefits, or other compensation," and "Inquire" covers any question or statement to the applicant, to a current or prior employer, or to their employees or agents, made "for the purpose of obtaining an Applicant's Salary History," plus any search of "publicly available records or reports" for that purpose. A sourcer looking up a former city or county employee's published pay to anchor an offer is inquiring. Telling the applicant "the position's proposed or anticipated salary or salary range" is not.

When did it take effect, and has it changed?

City Council passed Ordinance 173-19 on June 26, 2019, according to the history note under each section of the chapter. Section 768.05 then delayed the chapter: it "shall take effect 365 days after it becomes law," which puts the start in mid-2020. The code does not print the exact start date, and published summaries differ on it; for any hiring today the point is moot.

The current code supplement still cites only Ordinance 173-19 for every section, so the text has not been amended since 2019, and Toledo has added no pay range rule for job postings, as of November 2026. The pay information an applicant can demand is still only the pay scale after a conditional offer, covered below.

Who is covered?

• Employers located in Toledo with 15 or more employees there. An employer is a business, nonprofit, labor organization or public corporation, "or an agent thereof, located within the City of Toledo and using the services of fifteen or more employees for pay within the City of Toledo" (768.01(c)).
• Employment agencies. "Employer" includes "job placement and referral agencies and other employment agencies." The code does not say whether an agency needs its own 15 Toledo employees; an agency recruiting for a covered employer is at least its agent, so apply the ban.
• The City of Toledo is covered; other local, state and federal government employers are not.
• Jobs in the city. Applicants are people applying for work "to be performed within the geographic boundaries of the City of Toledo" whose application is "solicited, received, processed, or considered" in Toledo, in whole or in part, interviewed or not. Temporary, seasonal, part-time, contract, contingent and commission work counts, as does work through a temporary agency; independent contractor work does not.

The suburbs are separate cities. A job in Sylvania, Maumee, Perrysburg or Oregon is outside chapter 768 even for a Toledo-based employer. The reverse case comes up often on the state line: a Michigan resident applying for a job performed in Toledo is protected, and a Toledo resident hired for a job in Monroe County, Michigan is not. Our Michigan salary history page covers the rules on that side.

What may a Toledo recruiter still ask or do?

• Expectations, and what the candidate would give up. Section 768.02(b) allows discussing "expectations with respect to salary, benefits, and other compensation, including but not limited to unvested equity or deferred compensation" the applicant would forfeit or have cancelled by resigning.
• Sales and production numbers. Salary history excludes "any objective measure of the Applicant's productivity such as revenue, sales, or other production reports."
• Background checks that verify non-salary information, as long as any pay they reveal is not relied on to set compensation.
• A "voluntary and unprompted disclosure" by the applicant. Any question that invites the number removes the "unprompted."
• The listed exceptions in 768.02(d): internal transfers and promotions; rehires within five years of the applicant's last termination, where the employer already holds their pay data; collectively bargained positions; actions under a law that specifically authorizes relying on salary history; and government employers other than the City.

How does Toledo's ordinance compare with Cincinnati's and Cleveland's?

The full procedures are on our Cincinnati salary history page and our Cleveland pay transparency page.

How does the pay scale request work in Toledo?

Section 768.02(c): "An Employer, upon reasonable request, shall provide the pay scale for a position to an Applicant applying for Employment, for which the Applicant has been provided a conditional offer of Employment by the Employer." The chapter does not define "pay scale" or set a deadline. Answer in writing, give the range or step scale that applies to the position, and do it promptly. Because the duty starts only at the conditional offer, many employers simply give the range at the first call, which also keeps the pay conversation away from history.

How is it enforced?

Section 768.03: if an employer fails to comply, "the Applicant shall have a private cause of action to enforce the provisions of this chapter against the Employer for compensatory damages, reasonable attorney's fees, the costs of the action, and such legal and equitable relief as the court deems just and proper." The suit must be "commenced within two years after the cause of action accrued." There are no city fines, no cure period and no required notice or poster. Because the employer definition includes agencies and agents, an agency that runs the screening call can be the defendant.

How does it fit with Ohio and federal law?

Ohio has no statewide salary history ban; the other Ohio city rules are summarized on our Ohio salary history page. Nothing in state law displaces Toledo's chapter: R.C. 4113.85, the 2017 labor preemption statute, covers hours, scheduling, work location and fringe benefits, not hiring questions, and the Legislative Service Commission's status report for the 136th General Assembly, current to October 30, 2026, lists no salary history bill. Federally, the Equal Pay Act's defense for "any other factor other than sex" (29 U.S.C. 206(d)) sits behind every pay decision, and the EEOC's Compliance Manual says "Prior salary cannot, by itself, justify a compensation disparity." Ohio's R.C. 4111.17 adds a state wage discrimination rule.

What do staffing agencies need to do for Toledo jobs?

• Check three things at intake: the client is located in Toledo, it has 15 or more paid employees there, and the work will be performed inside the city limits.
• Apply the ban to your own desk. Agencies are employers under chapter 768, so the agency's screening call, application form and reference checks must leave pay history out, wherever the agency is based, including Michigan.
• Temp and temp-to-hire roles count. Work "through the services of a temporary or other employment agency" is employment under 768.01(d).
• Submit expectations, not history. Use a candidate submittal template with a target-pay line and no current-pay field, and do not forward a salary stored from an earlier search.
• Route pay scale requests. When a candidate with a conditional offer asks for the pay scale, get it from the client in writing and pass it on.

A Toledo screening script

TOLEDO SCREENING CALL (example figures throughout)

Opening the pay topic:
  "This role is at the plant on [street], inside Toledo. It pays
  $23 to $27 an hour plus benefits. What rate are you looking for,
  and would you lose anything by leaving, like a bonus that hasn't
  vested?"

If a Michigan candidate asks whether Toledo's rule applies:
  "It does. The job is in Toledo, so we don't ask about current or
  past pay, wherever you live."

If the candidate offers their current rate:
  "You don't need to share that. We'll work from the range."

If the client asks for current pay:
  "The job's in Toledo and you have more than 15 people here, so
  chapter 768 applies to both of us. His target is $25."

Toledo chapter 768 at a glance

A Toledo checklist

1. Confirm the job is performed inside Toledo's city limits, not a neighboring city, and that the employer is located there with 15 or more paid employees.
2. Remove pay history questions from applications, scripts, reference calls and background check orders.
3. Open with the range and ask expectations; wording is in salary expectation questions.
4. Keep volunteered figures out of notes; see what not to write in interview notes.
5. Have the pay scale ready in writing for conditional offers.

Other states and cities are compared on salary history ban states.