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Philadelphia Poised to Ban Employers from Asking Hires About Salary History

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Re: Philadelphia Poised to Ban Employers from Asking Hires About Salary History

#11

Post by kerkeslager »

gesman wrote: post #4

Asking doesn't hurt anyone. However giving certain answers could. What prevents employees from claiming that this information is "confidential" (polite version of "it's not your business"). Or outright lying about it?

Asking hurts the people who give bad answers, which is unfair since in many cases those answers are irrelevant to the job being interviewed for.

Claiming the information is confidential may hurt your chances of getting the job, or simply get the "we need this information or we can't continue, sorry, it's policy" answer.

Lying about it benefits the liars (assuming they lie intelligently). I suspect that offers are frequently based on previous pay, so simply claiming your previous pay was higher would get you a better offer. Is lying really the behavior we want to incentivize?

Re: Philadelphia Poised to Ban Employers from Asking Hires About Salary History

#12

Post by winter_blue »

_m8fo wrote: post #3

A society truly run by the people, ala individuals, would have banned this long ago. Just think about it: for an average person, what benefit do they receive by allowing employers to ask about past or current salary information? None. Wouldn't be surprised if there have been measures to ban this that were ultimately struck down by business people. The less information that's shared with employers, the more employers…

> A society truly run by the people, ala individuals, would have banned this

I'm libertarian-leaning, and statements like these bother me deeply.

If I'm an employer, why ban me from asking some question to a prospective employee? It's a restriction on the employer's freedom.

The job applicant has a right to decline to answer my question (and I have a right to decline to offer a job). Regulating what questions I can ask (i.e. my speech) is a restriction on my freedom.

I recently interviewed for a job, and they asked me what (minimum) base salary I was looking for, and I didn't answer their question, and said that I wanted them to make an offer based on what they thought I was worth. As a result, I ended up getting a higher base salary than I'd expected.

But that detracts from the main point. The reason I oppose such laws and regulations is that I feel like it's an infringement on personal freedom. Employers are made up of people, and regulating their speech and their actions is a limitation on their personal freedom.

Re: Philadelphia Poised to Ban Employers from Asking Hires About Salary History

#13

Post by _m8fo »

winter_blue wrote: post #12
_m8fo wrote: post #3

A society truly run by the people, ala individuals, would have banned this long ago. Just think about it: for an average person, what benefit do they receive by allowing employers to ask about past or current salary information? None. Wouldn't be surprised if there have been measures to ban this that were ultimately struck down by business people. The less information that's shared with employers, the more employers…

> A society truly run by the people, ala individuals, would have banned this I'm libertarian-leaning, and statements like these bother me deeply. If I'm an employer, why ban me from asking some question to a prospective employee? It's a restriction on the employer's freedom. The job applicant has a right to decline to answer my question (and I have a right to decline to offer a job). Regulating what questions I can a…

You're asking the wrong question. Why allow it? Employers and people are not equivalent in my mind, even if they are the same, legally.

Your story is nice, but I've also heard stories where people are rejected immediately because they didn't share. Sure, you could say that people shouldn't work for those companies (and they shouldn't), but not everyone has the luxury of being able to interview anywhere, nor the ability to be accepted anywhere.

Re: Philadelphia Poised to Ban Employers from Asking Hires About Salary History

#14

Post by Retric »

hackuser wrote: post #7

An important detail: Comcast, backed by the local Chamber of Commerce, has threatened to sue the city over this law. On what basis? The corporation's Constitutional First Amendment free speech right to ask the question: http://www.investopedia.com/news/comcast-threatens-sue-city-... Are these the same free speech rights the Supreme Court recently bestowed on the corporations? I remember that at the time legal analyst…

Free speech already has well known limits. Copywrite is an obvious one. Anyway, salary history's are discriminatory which seems like something that probably already has case law.

Re: Philadelphia Poised to Ban Employers from Asking Hires About Salary History

#15

Post by lend000 »

hackuser wrote: post #7

An important detail: Comcast, backed by the local Chamber of Commerce, has threatened to sue the city over this law. On what basis? The corporation's Constitutional First Amendment free speech right to ask the question: http://www.investopedia.com/news/comcast-threatens-sue-city-... Are these the same free speech rights the Supreme Court recently bestowed on the corporations? I remember that at the time legal analyst…

Are all employers corporations? And even as such, this is just outlawing information. I do not understand how so many on the left support such a measure.

It's a question -- outlawing questions, especially between private parties in a consensual relationship (applicant and employer), is backwards. You can choose not to answer it; you can lie; you can choose not to work for employers that ask the question in the first place, especially if they coerce you into providing records. This will just undermine the efforts of companies that have differentiated themselves with noninvasive hiring practices and set them back on the same playing field as less scrupulous employers.

Why is free choice so difficult to understand?

Re: Philadelphia Poised to Ban Employers from Asking Hires About Salary History

#16

Post by rayiner »

hackuser wrote: post #7

An important detail: Comcast, backed by the local Chamber of Commerce, has threatened to sue the city over this law. On what basis? The corporation's Constitutional First Amendment free speech right to ask the question: http://www.investopedia.com/news/comcast-threatens-sue-city-... Are these the same free speech rights the Supreme Court recently bestowed on the corporations? I remember that at the time legal analyst…

That's a red herring. You can hold individuals responsible for misleading statements in financial disclosures notwithstanding the fact that individuals indisputably have free speech rights. At the same time, if you can ban a corporation from asking the question about salary history, you should be able to ban a sole proprietorship or partnership from asking the question too.

Re: Philadelphia Poised to Ban Employers from Asking Hires About Salary History

#17

Post by gkop »

winter_blue wrote: post #12
_m8fo wrote: post #3

A society truly run by the people, ala individuals, would have banned this long ago. Just think about it: for an average person, what benefit do they receive by allowing employers to ask about past or current salary information? None. Wouldn't be surprised if there have been measures to ban this that were ultimately struck down by business people. The less information that's shared with employers, the more employers…

> A society truly run by the people, ala individuals, would have banned this I'm libertarian-leaning, and statements like these bother me deeply. If I'm an employer, why ban me from asking some question to a prospective employee? It's a restriction on the employer's freedom. The job applicant has a right to decline to answer my question (and I have a right to decline to offer a job). Regulating what questions I can a…

In this specific instance, though, doesn't it seems like a good trade for society to take away the rights of employers in exchange for making it more difficult for Comcast to do business?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13452618

Re: Philadelphia Poised to Ban Employers from Asking Hires About Salary History

#18

Post by [deleted] »

hackuser wrote: post #7

An important detail: Comcast, backed by the local Chamber of Commerce, has threatened to sue the city over this law. On what basis? The corporation's Constitutional First Amendment free speech right to ask the question: http://www.investopedia.com/news/comcast-threatens-sue-city-... Are these the same free speech rights the Supreme Court recently bestowed on the corporations? I remember that at the time legal analyst…

[deleted]

Re: Philadelphia Poised to Ban Employers from Asking Hires About Salary History

#19

Post by rayiner »

hackuser wrote: post #10

Most innovation and progress now is at the city level (I'm not the first to say it). Name the last thing government achieved at a national level in the U.S. - there's health care, but that's now looking shaky. The priority of one major party in the U.S. is to shut down government as much as possible; that party can block progress everywhere but in cities, where they have no power for now. However, they are trying to…

If cities and municipalities are our hope for good governance we're are all pretty screwed. Cities across the country basically bankrupt and state and local governance is rife with corruption.

Re: Philadelphia Poised to Ban Employers from Asking Hires About Salary History

#20

Post by adidalal »

lend000 wrote: post #15
hackuser wrote: post #7

An important detail: Comcast, backed by the local Chamber of Commerce, has threatened to sue the city over this law. On what basis? The corporation's Constitutional First Amendment free speech right to ask the question: http://www.investopedia.com/news/comcast-threatens-sue-city-... Are these the same free speech rights the Supreme Court recently bestowed on the corporations? I remember that at the time legal analyst…

Are all employers corporations? And even as such, this is just outlawing information. I do not understand how so many on the left support such a measure. It's a question -- outlawing questions, especially between private parties in a consensual relationship (applicant and employer), is backwards. You can choose not to answer it; you can lie; you can choose not to work for employers that ask the question in the first…

Because
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