When An Employer Asks You to Provide Your W2 Prior to Extending A Job Offer

A new trend is emerging amongst hospital systems and other employers that employ physicians - asking physicians to provide a copy of their current or prior W2 before extending a job offer. Increasingly, we are seeing questions on our online physician communities from doctors who have received this request when interviewing for jobs. Many times the hospital will cite that this is institutional policy or make similar statements implying that this is a standard requirement. Physicians are rightfully wary of this request. Below, we’ll cover ways that complying with this request could hurt you, what your rights are, and ways to respond when asked to provide W2s when searching for new jobs.

Disclosure/Disclaimer: Our content is for generalized educational purposes. While we try to ensure it is accurate and updated, we cannot guarantee it. We are not formal financial, legal, or tax professionals and do not provide individualized advice specific to your situation. You should consult these as appropriate and/or do your own due diligence before making decisions based on this page. To learn more, visit our disclaimers and disclosures.

Reasons a prospective employer may cite as a reason to ask you to provide a W2 prior to giving you an offer, and what you should be worried about if they do

Article Navigation

Why are employers asking me for my W2 or paystubs prior to giving me a job offer?

The reasons employers will cite for asking you to provide your W2 vary, but may include:

Verification of employment history
Needing it for a background check
Verifying the income that you stated that you made at your current job as a way to extend you a higher offer than they might otherwise (high producer, fair market value, etc)
Institutional policy
You’ve asked them not to tell your current employer that you’re looking for a new job and they want to verify that you’re employed by them

The fact is, they can get access to a lot of the employment information without needing your W2 or knowing exactly how much you make. For example, they can go to your current employer’s website or see your hospital ID. This should probably be all that they need until a contract has been negotiated. They may need more during credentialing, etc., but at that point terms have been agreed upon. If you were lying about being employed somewhere that you stated, it’s going to come out.

The reasons the cynic in us wonders if they may be asking for them:

They want to know how much you’re willing to take in salary so they can base their offer off that

Should I give my potential employer my current or prior W2s or paystubs when asked?

The TL:DR is that we are pretty staunchly against complying with a request for a prior W2 or paystub just to get a job offer. If you’ve read our negotiation tips and tricks for doctors, we don’t believe in giving out the first number, as it can only hurt you. If they were planning on giving you more, they now know that you’ll take less, and if they were planning on giving you less, they now know the bare minimum that you’ll take. This will only decrease your ability to negotiate a higher salary than what you're currently making.

We haven’t yet heard of a situation where it benefited the physician to give this information. Additionally, the more people or systems that have access to your W2, which contains sensitive information, the more you have to worry about data breaches in an era where these are becoming increasingly common.

Remember, at this stage, you don't even know if they're going to make you an offer that you'd be willing to take. Requiring you to give them sensitive information just to see a potential job offer doesn't make a lot of sense for you.

Physicians ask if they should give a potential employer their current or prior W2 or paystub if asked, and we recommend against it

Do I have a right to refuse the request to provide my W2 when interviewing for jobs or getting a job offer?

The first thing to know is that it is actually illegal to make this request in some states and cities. Hopefully those employers in those jurisdictions know that and wouldn’t try in the first place, but if you’re asked to provide your W2, you may want to consider checking that first.

Regardless, you can always refuse, and put the ball back in their court. If they really want you, they'll probably be willing to make an exception to this "policy." After all, what would they have done if this was your first job and you didn't have a prior job to provide a W2 from? They hire new grads all the time, presumably.

Of course, they can also refuse to give you a job offer, but that may be a signal that it wasn’t a good fit in the first place.

How can I tactfully reply to a request to provide my W2 when asked to do so by a potential employer?

This is where things get a little more complicated. Once you’ve been given a request, although you could just say ‘No,” they’re probably going to push you for more reasons.

Depending on your personality and style, you may choose to answer in one of several ways suggested by members of the community (or combine them):

"I don’t feel comfortable with my sensitive information being stored on your system prior to us having a more formal relationship."
"I don’t think that giving you information about what I’m being paid at my current job translates to what I should be paid at this job, because they’re very different jobs in terms of responsibilities."
"If you need employment verification, I’m happy to provide you with a link to my practice or institution's website or a picture of my physician ID. Is there any other information that you need from the W2 that I could get you in another fashion?"
"I’m worried that the contracts aren’t apples to apples comparisons, as I recognize that compensation is a balance of salary and benefits, which are hard to quantify on the basis of a W2, so the W2 may not accurately represent what I'm being compensated in my current position."
"My contract attorney advises against me providing this information, and I feel that I should follow his/her guidance."

If you don’t feel comfortable handling the request, have a contract attorney experienced in physician negotiations handle it.

What happens if they won’t give me a job offer if I decline to provide my W2?

Honestly, we’d ask you to consider whether you want to take a job where the potential employer is already strong-arming you in this way prior to even making an offer. In this job market, where physicians are in such high demand secondary to the physician shortage, there are plenty of other jobs that will likely provide you an offer based on the merits of the job and your qualifications alone. The way that an employer approaches you when they want to recruit you is likely the best they'll ever treat you, so the "my way or the highway" approach at the outset is troubling when it comes to giving up sensitive personal information prior to even seeing if you'll come to terms that work for both parties.

If you’re interested in exploring other clinical job opportunities, we have resources to help.

Explore:

Conclusion

With very few exceptions, any time you give out information about your current pay, you’re setting yourself up at a disadvantage in a job offer situation. You should do your best to avoid this, and know that in some states or cities it may be illegal to request your W2 or paystubs from another job.

Additional contract negotiation and job search resources for physicians

Explore related contract and job search resources: