Utah technical recruiting and hiring rules
Utah's cleared market runs from Ogden to Salt Lake City along Interstate 15 and the FrontRunner line.
Hill Air Force Base is an Air Force Materiel Command base hosted by the 75th Air Base Wing and described as the Air Force's third largest base by population and size, Northrop Grumman's Sentinel program to modernize the land-based leg of the nuclear triad places a workforce in Roy, Dugway Proving Ground tests to the west, and the University of Utah in Salt Lake City is the state's flagship research university. Requisitions run from Secret for depot and program support to Top Secret for the strategic programs.
Utah regulates little at the posting stage but caps non-competes by statute. The rules below are current at the time of writing, each with its source.
Hiring rules in Utah that matter to employers
Summaries are general information current at the time of writing and are no substitute for counsel.
- Pay transparency in job postings
- Utah has no statewide law on pay transparency in job postings.
- Salary history
- Utah has no statewide salary history ban.
- Fair-chance hiring
- Utah Code Section 34-52-201 provides that a public employer may not exclude an applicant from an initial interview because of a past criminal conviction or juvenile adjudication, may not inquire about expunged history, and is treated as excluding the applicant if it requires disclosure of convictions on the application or before the interview; the employer may consider criminal history during or after the initial interview. Exceptions cover law enforcement and criminal justice employers, employers working with children or vulnerable adults, positions where law requires consideration of criminal history, safety-sensitive transit positions, and violent felonies and sexual offenses. No rule applies to private employers.
- Non-compete agreements
- Under the Post-Employment Restrictions Act, Utah Code Section 34-51-201, for a post-employment restrictive covenant entered into on or after May 10, 2016, an employer and an employee may not agree to a restriction lasting more than one year from the day the employee is no longer employed, and a covenant that violates the section is void. The Act does not apply to non-solicitation, non-disclosure or confidentiality agreements, to reasonable severance agreements made at or after termination, or to covenants arising from the sale of a business.
- At-will employment
- Utah employment rests on the at-will default that applies across the United States, with the statutory rules on this page as the main exceptions; the firm found no Utah agency page summarizing the doctrine, so employers should take advice on its current application.
- E-Verify
- Under the Private Employer Verification Act, Utah Code Section 13-47-201, a private employer that employs 150 or more employees on or after May 4, 2022 may not hire a new employee unless it registers with and uses an authorized status verification system, with an exception for H-2A and H-2B visa holders the employer petitioned for.
Metro markets in Utah
Utah's metro page covers Ogden, Hill Air Force Base and Salt Lake City.
Industries hiring in Utah
Specialties in demand in Utah
Questions about hiring in Utah
Can a Utah employer enforce a two-year non-compete against an engineer?
Not under the Post-Employment Restrictions Act, which voids any post-employment restrictive covenant entered into on or after May 10, 2016 that lasts more than one year from the day employment ends. Non-solicitation, non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements are outside the Act, as are covenants arising from the sale of a business.
What clearance levels do Hill Air Force Base requisitions carry?
Secret for most depot, sustainment and engineering support work, and Top Secret for the strategic programs, with some positions requiring SCI access. The Ogden and Salt Lake City page names the organizations that shape the market.