
SF to prohibit employers from asking for salary history to close gender wage gap - uptown
http://www.sfexaminer.com/sf-prohibit-employers-asking-salary-history-close-gender-wage-gap/
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qstyk
I don't have a problem with them asking. I politely decline to tell them and
move on. I have yet to have it be a stumbling block. An employer asking is a
fairly standard practice, as is a potential employee not providing that
information.

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true_tuna
I've had an employer refuse to proceed with an offer unless I provide salary
history.

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dethswatch
"Thank you for for self-identifying. Good day."

That would have been my response.

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Schwolop
Can't you just lie about it? How are they going to check? And if they do ask
for evidence can't you simply walk away from the opportunity?

That said, a better way to defuse the question without lying is to say
something like "My former employers consider salary data confidential as I'm
sure you do too, but my expected salary for this role is [true_target *
math.randrange(1.1, 1.4)]."

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yuhong
A law prohibiting employers from asking questions is much easier to enforce
than anti-discrimination laws. I would still be willing to compromise by
limiting anti-discrimination laws to manual labor jobs though.

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namlem
Good. It's none of their business.

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Aron
I keep wondering these days who is left to stand up for good old fashion
capitalism and liberty

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lovich
What part of a negotiation where one side has all the data and the other side
has next to none is considered part of "good old fashion capitalism"?

If a company wants my salary data I'll be happy be to provide it as soon as
they provide me their accounting books. I wouldn't want to ask for too low a
salary if I knew they could afford more

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iopq
I just refuse to give my data until they tell me what they have budgeted for
the position so we are on equal grounds.

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salehk
how does this close the gender wage gap?

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onetwotree
1 ) Banning past salary inquiries allows more rapid increases in salary, thus
accelerating a trend induced by other factors of a shrinking gender gap. This
is also why you should always refuse to reveal your past salary.

2 ) Assertive behavior like refusing to reveal past salary is viewed
(consciously or unconsciously) as a positive trait in men and a negative one
in women. This puts women at a disadvantage during salary negotiations
generally, and specifically when asked to provide information that will
prevent them from entering a position with a higher salary.

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gozur88
We'll see if that's the actual effect in practice. Young professional women
make more money than their male counterparts. If they're not as good at
negotiating as their male counterparts, this may negate their only advantage.

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lovich
Out of curiosity do you have statistics for that? The female professionals I
know make far less than the males, but as I'm in software I know about 10 men
for every woman so it's not really a population size large enough to base
conclusions off of

