An interviewer asks what you want to earn in the new role. Later, a form asks what you earned at a previous employer. Those questions concern different information, even if both answers could be written as an hourly amount.
When evaluating salary history questions for Philadelphia delivery jobs, separate a request for past pay from a discussion of the position's future compensation. This guide explains that distinction using the city's Wage Equity Ordinance FAQ. It does not decide coverage or a violation in your individual case, and it does not describe EPIQ Logistics' hiring practices.
Separate past pay versus desired compensation
The Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations explains that the Wage Equity Ordinance prohibits covered employers, employment agencies and agents from asking about current or prior salary history during the application or hiring process. Its FAQ separately says that questions about salary expectations for the position are generally permissible.
Read the prompt before deciding how to respond. “What hourly pay are you seeking for this position?” asks about the proposed job. “What hourly pay did your last employer give you?” asks about history. The fact that both use the word pay does not make them interchangeable.
The FAQ also cautions against tying an expectations question to current or prior pay. If a prompt combines the two, ask which information the employer needs to discuss the new role rather than assuming that a broad “compensation” label resolves the distinction.
Check the Philadelphia connection
The city FAQ ties the ordinance to a position located in Philadelphia, not simply the location of the interview or the employer's headquarters. It explains that a job need not spend every working hour in the city to be covered; the job's overall ties matter.
A delivery role can name several locations in its posting, so preserve the actual reporting and work-location information. If the job's connection to Philadelphia is unclear, ask the Commission or a qualified adviser about applicability using those facts. A city name in a search result is insufficient to decide the question yourself.
Ask about the new role’s compensation
Consider a fictional applicant, Jo, who is willing to discuss a desired hourly amount after learning the job's duties and schedule. Jo receives a form that instead asks for the hourly amount paid by a former employer. Copying the desired amount into that field would misstate what the number represents.
Jo can ask how to proceed with the history field and offer to discuss compensation requirements for the current position. A response could be: “I would like to discuss the pay for this role based on its duties and schedule. Can you clarify how I should proceed with this past-pay question?”
This example does not determine whether the form violates the ordinance or guarantee how the employer will respond. It shows a way to preserve an accurate distinction without inventing a past wage or putting an unrelated number into a required field.
For the broader conversation, the guide to comparing driving-job compensation and work costs helps you identify the terms that matter to your expectations. Your required pay for a new role can be discussed in relation to that role's actual terms.
Retain the wording if the issue remains unresolved
Save the prompt or a lawful copy of the relevant form, together with the job information and any answer to your clarification request. If the question was spoken, make an accurate note afterward and distinguish your recollection from wording you can verify.
The city FAQ recognizes that these questions can be difficult to handle in the moment and describes reframing the discussion around compensation expectations or the new job's responsibilities. Choose language that reflects what you mean. Avoid claiming an amount you did not earn or treating a hypothetical pay discussion as a confirmed offer.
The guide to preparing truthful delivery-driver interview answers can help with the rest of the conversation. Keep the history-versus-expectations distinction clear when preparing your response.
If you want advice about the actual request, retain the job's location details and the question for the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations or a qualified adviser. The EPIQ delivery-job guides cover other application and offer questions while you keep past pay separate from the terms you are seeking now.