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New Law Bans California Employers From Asking Applicants Their Prior Salary (sfgate.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: California employers can no longer ask job applicants about their prior salary and -- if applicants ask -- must give them a pay range for the job they are seeking, under a new state law that takes effect Jan. 1. AB168, signed Thursday by Gov. Jerry Brown, applies to all public- and private-sector California employers of any size. 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. Last year, the state passed a weaker law that said prior compensation, by itself, cannot justify any disparity in compensation. 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. However, if the applicant "voluntarily and without prompting" provides this information, the employer may use it "in determining the salary for that applicant."
I used to have spitting matches with recruiters because they wanted to know how much I'm earning, because my ask wasn't getting many hits on their job portfolio. Sometimes I gave in and told them, only for them to reply that I shouldn't be asking for as much as I was, because the jump is too high. They were making the decision of how much I'm worth for me. But I did push back and got what I wanted in the end, every time. I'm sure they were happy with the commission afterwards.
"Everybody's naked underneath" -- The Doctor
Virtually every employment application I've ever filled out has asked me for my start & end salary at previous work places, along with start & end date of employment, plus why I left that position. I think those questions are pretty standard.
Yes many places ask for that information. I almost never provide any salary information (not usually relevant) as there is no upside to me in providing that information. Where I worked and when is fair game to ask but what I made at my last job really has no relevance in almost every case and providing that data really can only hurt me in most cases.
I had a friend who instead of putting his last salary added up all his benefits with his salary and provided them with that. It bumped his "wage" by a considerable margin. Ironically, it was a law firm that he went to, working in IT. He argued that if they found out they would actually be impressed with how he framed it to his favor instead of giving his base salary. I think he's right.
No. No, they don't. Most of them do, but believing all do is wrong. I'm a hiring manager, and I determine comp for my candidates. I don't ask them what they're making right now, and I don't particularly care what they're making right now -- Our compensation strategy is "pay top of market," so I offer them what I think is top of market for their position. If they say "I don't think that's top of market," I ask for datapoints. If they say "well, you're offering me $X, but I have an offer from Google for $X+20, or I currently get paid $X+30," then great -- they just helped me figure out what top of market is. I adjust my offer, we move on. Never been turned down on comp yet.
I've been an engineer for 35+ years, and managing and hiring engineers for about half that time. Your opinion on the drug testing being silly is fine, but I guarantee that many people disagree, and would prefer not working next to someone who's using. Sure, it's one thing if you're doing pot at home, nobody should give a damn...other stuff, maybe not so much. As far as lying on the application, that's flat out fire able. Do you really think companies can make a logical decision to pay someone based solely on a hour or so interview? So, now the interviews will get longer, and more in depth, and you could argue that they should have been that way before, but prior salaries are a data point, and not the sole source of determining a new hire's value. You'll also end up seeing a lot more unqualified people gaming this to leapfrog to levels they're not really qualified for because they were able to hoodwink their way through an interview. The confidentiality of salary information doesn't in any way prohibit the employee from sharing it. In fact, many companies provide a service to employees to do just that when they apply for mortgages or other loans.
Just another day in Paradise