New law bans California employers from asking applicants their prior salary
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Re: New law bans California employers from asking applicants their prior salary
#2Finally. I always wondered why wasn't it illegal in the first place.
Re: New law bans California employers from asking applicants their prior salary
#3> The goal is to narrow the gender wage gap. If a woman is paid less than a man doing the same job and a new employer bases her pay on her prior salary, gender discrimination can be perpetuated, the bill’s backers say.
Hmm, I'd never thought about that angle,but I guess it makes sense.
No word on if they are allowed to use Equifax, etc to pull salary data from?
EDIT: looking at the bill it looks like querying Equifax is probably also prohibited
> (b) An employer shall not, orally or in writing, personally or through an agent, seek salary history information, including compensation and benefits, about an applicant for employment.
As a side note one of the biggest issues macro economists have is that its very hard to prove their theories as you often can't run huge macro economic experiments.....
> Delaware, Massachusetts and Oregon have passed similar laws that take effect later this year or next, said attorney Ben Ebbink of Fisher & Phillips in Sacramento. Philadelphia passed one that was supposed to take effect in May but is being challenged in court. New York City and San Francisco have similar ordinances that take effect Oct. 31 and July 1, respectively.
With the number of states introducing legislation like this it will be interesting to see if you can tease out any state or city based GDP growth/shrinking based on these laws.
Re: New law bans California employers from asking applicants their prior salary
#4This is a ban on employers -- afaik, recruiters can still ask (and many probably will ask). But, IANAL. (Correction: It looks like recruiters fall under this prohibition too, if they are acting as agents of the employer.)
I personally never answer questions about my previous salary or my expected salary. When HR has given me forms to fill out that have questions about either I just leave them blank, and they've never made an issue out of it.
Some recruiters tend to be a lot more pushy about it, but I just stick to my guns, and refuse to budge on the issue, telling them that I cosider that information confidential. A couple recruiters have refused to work with me because of this, but most are much more understanding. There's certainly no shortage of recruiters out there, so I really don't feel deprived of many opportunities just because a couple have walked away.
I've had one recruiter insist on it because they said they were paid by employers to get that number. They're basically insisting that I participate in a free salary survey for them, for which they'll get paid. Maybe if they shared their cut of what they were getting for that information, I'd consider giving it to them, but otherwise naming a number first will put me in a weaker bargaining position, so I don't.
There's a flip side to this, however -- whether to share salary information together with other employees. In the US it's frowned upon, but I hear it's quite common in Europe. I've also heard it argued that employees knowing each other's salaries makes it harder for employees to get taken advantage of by their employers -- which is probably why some employers have tried to forbid their employees from talking about their salaries with other employees, and why I've considered doing so myself, though I haven't yet. It's just such a taboo subject at work. Nobody talks about what they make.
Re: New law bans California employers from asking applicants their prior salary
#5This is a ban on employers -- afaik, recruiters can still ask (and many probably will ask). But, IANAL. (Correction: It looks like recruiters fall under this prohibition too, if they are acting as agents of the employer.) I personally never answer questions about my previous salary or my expected salary. When HR has given me forms to fill out that have questions about either I just leave them blank, and they've never…
Kind of off topic but should one always hide their current salary, even if it's above market rate (given their experience on paper)? It seems as though if an employer were only looking to spend so much on a hire, then if you're already likely above that number, wouldn't it save both you and the employer's time?
I can see the obvious downside of sharing a relatively low salary, but it seems like there could be benefit to sharing a high salary (again, relative to your on-paper experience and value).
Re: New law bans California employers from asking applicants their prior salary
#6> The goal is to narrow the gender wage gap. If a woman is paid less than a man doing the same job and a new employer bases her pay on her prior salary, gender discrimination can be perpetuated, the bill’s backers say. Hmm, I'd never thought about that angle,but I guess it makes sense. No word on if they are allowed to use Equifax, etc to pull salary data from? EDIT: looking at the bill it looks like querying Equifax…
Equifax has salary data? I hadn't heard that.
//edit: Well shit, TIL: https://krebsonsecurity.com/2017/10/equifax-breach-fallout-y...
Re: New law bans California employers from asking applicants their prior salary
#7definitely a step in the right direction, but employees can still get this info from Equifax and other data providers :-(
Re: New law bans California employers from asking applicants their prior salary
#8> The goal is to narrow the gender wage gap. If a woman is paid less than a man doing the same job and a new employer bases her pay on her prior salary, gender discrimination can be perpetuated, the bill’s backers say. Hmm, I'd never thought about that angle,but I guess it makes sense. No word on if they are allowed to use Equifax, etc to pull salary data from? EDIT: looking at the bill it looks like querying Equifax…
Equifax has salary data? I hadn't heard that. //edit: Well shit, TIL: https://krebsonsecurity.com/2017/10/equifax-breach-fallout-y...
Any time you apply for a credit card or other form of credit, you generally have to give your income.
Re: New law bans California employers from asking applicants their prior salary
#9This is a ban on employers -- afaik, recruiters can still ask (and many probably will ask). But, IANAL. (Correction: It looks like recruiters fall under this prohibition too, if they are acting as agents of the employer.) I personally never answer questions about my previous salary or my expected salary. When HR has given me forms to fill out that have questions about either I just leave them blank, and they've never…
How do you feel if you think you are being paid well compared to the market rate? Do you think there are cases where sharing your current/past salary can be a benefit in negotiations?
Re: New law bans California employers from asking applicants their prior salary
#10This is a ban on employers -- afaik, recruiters can still ask (and many probably will ask). But, IANAL. (Correction: It looks like recruiters fall under this prohibition too, if they are acting as agents of the employer.) I personally never answer questions about my previous salary or my expected salary. When HR has given me forms to fill out that have questions about either I just leave them blank, and they've never…
Agents of the employer, such as recruiters, are also prohibited from seeking for this information.
https://www.natlawreview.com/article/california-latest-state...