Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

New York City bans employers from asking potential workers about past salary

nytlive.nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

531–539 of 539 posts

Re: New York City bans employers from asking potential workers about past salary

#531

Post by downrightmike »

s73ver wrote: post #530
downrightmike wrote: post #476

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They need to be at the advantage, their life and time is being bought. And because if the pay is shit, they'll only end up doing shitty work. Possibly leaving much not finished the next chance they get somewhere that is willing to compensate appropriately.

"They need to be at the advantage, their life and time is being bought." Same is true for someone who is not good at negotiating, or is negotiating from a weaker position. "And because if the pay is shit, they'll only end up doing shitty work." So why not just have the company pay well for everyone?

"So why not just have the company pay well for everyone?" That's just not something they do.

Re: New York City bans employers from asking potential workers about past salary

#532

Post by dang »

poikniok wrote: post #490
matwood wrote: post #437

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait, so you were ready to pay someone 175k until you found out they only made 100k at their last job and rescinded the offer? How about name the company so people can make sure to avoid them. I hope this company also lists their internal budget for every position, since you know we want to all be honest and everything.

If the user's summary is accurate / I found the correct individual on Linkedin the company is [redacted]. I agree with your assessment that this sounds like a unethical company, not to mention the amount of glee expressed in the post over an individual being screwed by the company is disconcerting.

On HN users aren't allowed to pursue each other's personal details and bring them here as ammunition in an argument. That crosses the line into personal attack, which is emphatically not allowed here, regardless of how wrong you think someone else or their employer may be. Please don't do it again.

Re: New York City bans employers from asking potential workers about past salary

#533

Post by komali2 »

morgante wrote: post #472
DTrejo wrote: post #410

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Finance people regularly get paid $400k+ as new grads. Well done dharma1/showmethemoney – next time ask for 500k!

> Finance people regularly get paid $400k+ as new grads. Have you ever worked in finance? New grads in any position don't make that much. Don't believe me? There's public data on offers for top schools that corroborates it. At most people make $150-200k.

I don't want to speak for the OP but I believe he/she was illustrating my point.

Re: New York City bans employers from asking potential workers about past salary

#534

Post by vkou »

product50 wrote: post #492
vkou wrote: post #432

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My first job paid me $25,000 CAD a year. My next job paid me $90,000 CAD a year. (Investment bank) My next job paid me $160,000 USD a year. (Google) All numbers are all-in comp. All junior dev roles. Should the bank, and Google have offered me $33,000 and $40,000, so that the new salary isn't too much higher then the old one? Would that satisfy your notion of fairness? When new grads hired by the latter are getting p…

What if you are current job pays you $400k? In that doesn't it advantage you to talk about your current salary to set an anchor? Also, it helps you avoid jobs/positions who are way below that number.

It does, and there is no law against telling your employer your salary expectations.

Re: New York City bans employers from asking potential workers about past salary

#535

Post by vkou »

papabrown wrote: post #501
product50 wrote: post #492

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if you are current job pays you $400k? In that doesn't it advantage you to talk about your current salary to set an anchor? Also, it helps you avoid jobs/positions who are way below that number.

If your current job pays $400K they are either grossly overpaying or you are in a very narrow band of people in your field and you probably should not be taking too many interviews with people who do not already know what they should be prepared to pay. People at $400K a year don't apply for a job, they're recruited. Any of the problems mentioned in this thread would likely not apply.

Or you have the right pedigree, and are working like a horse for a NYC financial firm. Or you are a staff engineer at a SV megacorp.

Re: New York City bans employers from asking potential workers about past salary

#536

Post by eru »

maxxxxx wrote: post #107
eru wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People can ask about trade secrets just fine. It's just that you don't have to answer.

The balance of power during an interview is often very much on the side of the employer. So I am happy if that balance gets shifted the other way a little.

Sure, that's a valid preference to have. It just doesn't have anything to do with not being legally allowed to ask about trade secrets.

Re: New York City bans employers from asking potential workers about past salary

#537

Post by VT_Drew »

louisswiss wrote: post #140
VT_Drew wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Generally, in price negotiations it is advantageous to name a number first. This is absolutely 100% wrong. In price negotiations you will almost always fair better if you force the other party to bring up a number first.

Source? There is a large body of research which disagrees with you... Oechssler, Jörg; Roider, Andreas; Schmitz, Patrick W. (2009). "Cognitive abilities and behavioral biases". Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization. 72 (1): 147–152. doi:10.1016/j.jebo.2009.04.018. Jump up ^ Orr, D. & Guthrie, C. (2005). "Anchoring, information, expertise, and negotiation: New insights from meta-analysis". Ohio St. J. Disp. Reso…

Source right here: http://www.kalzumeus.com/2012/01/23/salary-negotiation/ (and it isn't a wikipedia article)

Re: New York City bans employers from asking potential workers about past salary

#538

Post by kesselvon »

gdulli wrote: post #435
kesselvon wrote: post #312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Morals are nice, but if you're being underpaid purely based on your previous salary vs actual worth, then it doesn't do you much good except to feel good.

If I'm underpaid it's because I took a job with bad pay. Presumably because I failed to demonstrate I was worth more, was incorrect about being worth more, or I chose to accept an offer that didn't match my value. I can take personal responsibility for any of those scenarios. Transparency is not the root cause of them. Taking responsibility is in general a better option than assigning blame. Acting in bad faith becau…

I think blaming people for letting themselves get screwed is rather egregious when firms have every incentive to screw you. In a lot of situations, its either you take the job offer or you don't eat. How long do you think most people can survive unemployment?

Re: New York City bans employers from asking potential workers about past salary

#539

Post by thammudu »

anupshinde wrote: post #223
arunitc wrote: post #126

Here in India, you are not only asked your previous salary, you have to provide your last (sometimes three) payslip while joining. Some companies have a policy of NOT giving more than a 30% hike from your previous salary - you need top management approval for such a hike.

At the time of joining - is usually for background verification. Most companies don't even care what your last pay was. Even if you are paid higher, they are going to play in their range. However, during negotiation, if you lied about your previous pay just to get a better hike - you would get flagged, may get fired and get yourself listed into an unofficial blacklist. Its more of an ethics issue than just a pay mism…

I have been through job searching recently in India and I have applied for 10s of companies most of them are statups.

> At the time of joining - is usually for background verification.

Not just during joining, many companies asked my previous salary and expected salary during the first talk. Some companies did not even contact back when I refused to disclose my previous salary.

Salary discrimination is everywhere in startups, not just by gender also by number of years of experience, University, Degree, previous company...

My opinion is "every employee doing the same job should be paid the same."

Post reply on HN