Many employers mistakenly believe that they can prohibit employees from discussing salaries, pay rates, bonuses and other benefits with one another.

You’re allowed to negotiate compensation packages on an individual basis, and to award discretionary bonuses based on individual performance. However, California law expressly states that employers cannot keep employees from talking—with coworkers or anyone else—about salaries, benefits, or working conditions.

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Specifically, the California Labor Code states that employers cannot:

• (a) Require, as a condition of employment, that an employee refrain from disclosing the amount of his or her wages; or
• (b) Require an employee to sign a waiver or other document that states that the employee disclose the amount of his or her wages; or
• (c) Discharge, formally discipline, or otherwise discriminate against an employee who discloses the amount of his or her wages.

The same rules apply to restricting employee discussions about benefits and working conditions. But you can still require that employees not disclose trade secrets or other proprietary information to people outside the company.