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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

#92
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"The new bill goes further by prohibiting employers, “orally or in writing, personally or through an agent,” from asking about an applicant’s previous pay." according to the language in the bill, employers don't seem to be allowed to use those types of Equifax products anymore. "However, if the applicant “voluntarily and without prompting” provides this information, the employer may use it “in determining the salary…

How do you prove that employers did or didn't use Equifax or an equivalent service?

You sue them and use discovery to find out.

Any employer in California that does this will get taken to the cleaners.

It's possible Equifax would too now, so they probably won't give this information to CA employers.

Re: New law bans California employers from asking applicants their prior salary

#93
post #38

Really wish this would extend to apartment rent applications. I'm fine with a credit check, but they don't need to know how high they can increase my rent before I'll need to move. edit I am referring to my experience renting apartments from Property Management run communities. (Think Essex or Prometheus) Rent increases every year with them.

[deleted]

Re: New law bans California employers from asking applicants their prior salary

#94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Recruiters need to find candidates for a given range. Considering the breath of paygrades for even similar experience level jobs across the tech sector it’s not that surprising. If a company looks for some one for say 100-120K you are wasting your time and the recruiters time if you won’t take any offers below 180. Whilst you might find an employer who’ll be willing and able to go 5-10% over the max it’s not likely t…

This is a valid concern, but a much more appropriate way of addressing expectations is to simply say “This role pays 100-120k depending on experience. Is this acceptable?”

This is how it used to roll for me when I was a contract recruiter, and 99% of the time the candidate would say "So the role pays 120k, got it."

Salary ranges are pointless, I always tried to tell my clients this but for some reason they always would give me a range. I gave up ever giving the range to my candidates and just told them the max (hard max, contract O&G, so they wouldn't try to negotiate above, it'd be pointless).

Re: New law bans California employers from asking applicants their prior salary

#96
post #38

Really wish this would extend to apartment rent applications. I'm fine with a credit check, but they don't need to know how high they can increase my rent before I'll need to move. edit I am referring to my experience renting apartments from Property Management run communities. (Think Essex or Prometheus) Rent increases every year with them.

That's ridiculous. Landlords need to know that you're financially able to cover your rent. Typically, that's a rent of up to 1/3 of your monthly gross. You can generally also show a landlord that you have a significant amount in liquid assets in lieu of providing your salary information.

Re: New law bans California employers from asking applicants their prior salary

#97
post #79

So how does this work for larger companies with multiple offices? Some cases I'm curious about (and have always been for laws like this): My company's headquarters are registered in Texas, but we have an office in CA that is doing hiring for that office. Same as above, but hiring someone residing in CA to move to Texas. Same as above, but hiring someone residing in CA to remote work (in CA or wherever they please). T…

If you have a California office, you have to be incorporated in California, which means you're a California employer.

Re: New law bans California employers from asking applicants their prior salary

#98
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Equifax has salary data? I hadn't heard that. //edit: Well shit, TIL: https://krebsonsecurity.com/2017/10/equifax-breach-fallout-y...

They do - I'm not sure how they licence it though or what data sources they use but I've seen that their data on high income households is the best in the business and shockingly accurate. However, I can't imagine the compliance nightmare that would exist around a process that lets HR people look up people's equifax information. If they get a full report, it could contain information about disabilities, national orig…

"... disabilities, national origin, ethnicity, religion, and enough information to construct knowledge about sexual orientation."

Don't employers already get most of that from doing in person interviews? Even through phone screens you can gather most of that information.

Re: New law bans California employers from asking applicants their prior salary

#99
post #68
post #14

Not an American, couldn't you just tell them a made up number?

Better yet telling them what salary you want and not disclose your previous salary. Don't start you work relationship with a lie.

But then you lose the chance to negotiate up. Any number you state can be interpreted as the highest you will get offered. In salary negotiation, make it so the employer presents the first offer, and then negotiate up.

Re: New law bans California employers from asking applicants their prior salary

#100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And it was equally legal for companies to drop you from consideration for a job if you refused. :/

That's how price discovery can work in markets. "How much is that tomato?" "$5" "Yikes. Too much for me. Thanks for your time"

And that's exactly how salary negotiations work now -- the applicant can name an expected salary, and the employer can respond accordingly. The only thing that's changed is that what you've been paid in the past doesn't have to be a part of that discussion.
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