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Ask HN: Why is Pave legal?

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Re: Ask HN: Why is Pave legal?

#91

Post by hobs »

throwway120385 wrote: post #80
wccrawford wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, it seems more like they'd all shoot for 45th percentile and say "We pay competitive wages" instead, slowly driving the wages down.

That's what my employer does. The head of our HR team got in front of the entire company and said that they aim for 50th percentile for everyone in every pay band. It instantly made me want to job hop, tempered only by the million things I have going on in my personal life that have a better expected value than a 5 or 10k pay bump.

That's... hilarious. We all know they are thinking that but to say it loudly and proudly to the employees is a self own on a level that makes me Cheshire Cat.

Re: Ask HN: Why is Pave legal?

#93

Post by cryptonym »

fastball wrote: post #78
theGnuMe wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

unless disclosed to employees and applicants this seems like de facto colluding. I always ask myself, as to the legality or ethics, would this survive review by a jury of my peers...

You think it is more ethical for wage data to be kept secret? Why? Rarely is requiring secrecy the more ethical option.

What would be the least ethical would be keeping it secret to one party and having the other party sharing data... Oh wait!

Re: Ask HN: Why is Pave legal?

#94

Post by hungie »

It's almost certainly illegal, but it benefits the capital class, so it's going to get a pass for a long time.

That said, it's exactly the same thing that landlords were doing with that pricing software and the government is coming after them, so maybe pave will get hit with a big lawsuit sometime soon.

Here's hoping this sort of thing gets regulated down into the earth.

Re: Ask HN: Why is Pave legal?

#95

Post by jmkni »

braden-lk wrote: post #15

“I’m not punching you in the face, I’m just putting my fist on a movement vector that happens to intersect your face.” I hope these guys get their shit rocked in court. I’m tired of a world run by cartels.

"Alright, pie, I'm just gonna do this...and if you get eaten, it's your own fault!"

Re: Ask HN: Why is Pave legal?

#96

Post by cryptonym »

numlocked wrote: post #2

I believe wage-fixing would require companies to agree to…fix wages. Having knowledge of average compensation is not inherently problematic. Firms are still able to decide to pay more or less than the prevailing wage.

The whole point of getting such data is to ... fix wages.

Re: Ask HN: Why is Pave legal?

#98

Post by drw85 »

mcntsh wrote: post #22
nowyoudont wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm asking this as someone with 0 legal knowledge: doesn't the context matter? If every company takes this data and is like "we want to pay at the 95th percentile" (which is what they all do), that seems like wage fixing even if they're not all agreeing to it together.

If you opened up a business selling water bottles, you'd probably check what price water sells at across brands, then decide in which segment to price it. "I want to sell my water at the upper end and market it as a gourmet brand"

But in this case you're not selling, you're buying.

Re: Ask HN: Why is Pave legal?

#100

Post by itronitron »

aikinai wrote: post #19
nowyoudont wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm asking this as someone with 0 legal knowledge: doesn't the context matter? If every company takes this data and is like "we want to pay at the 95th percentile" (which is what they all do), that seems like wage fixing even if they're not all agreeing to it together.

If they’re all shooting for the 95th percentile and have up-to-date data then you certainly won’t have fixing; rather you’ll get insanely rapid wage inflation!

Not necessarily, if everyone's wages (except 5%) were set at minimum wage then the 95th percentile would be the minimum wage.
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