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5.06.2008 ||> Fair Pay for Work
Right now, Congress is debating a new law that would make it so that employees have more time between being discriminated against in terms of pay and when they can sue their employer for it. Right now, the law is (according to the Supreme Court) that the employee has to notify the court 180 days after the discrimination occurs. Which, if you were discriminiated against at your hiring, and find out about it 2 years later? Well, you're shit out of luck.
I mention this because a coworker came to me today angry because he was given a low ball offer of a salary. It is far below what he is worth and would put him about 4000/year lower than the lowest paid person in the department. Which is, if you are a sought after tri-lingual employee, deeply insulting.
Luckily enough, he was able to counter the offer because he knows what the person who did the job before him made (which was 6000/year more than his offer). When he brought this up, he was told that it was none of his business what his coworker makes.
Well, excuse me, but it does. It does because the freaking Supreme Court said that employees need to know within 180 days that they are being discriminated against. How else are you going to know whether you are being treated fairly or not? At this point, sites like salary.com just don't cut it, because they don't take into account special features of anyone's job, or the economy. Hell, those sites tell me that I should be making 60k, and that is definitely not what I am making.
And employers can chalk up paying employees less due to "restructuring" or other bullshit all they like, but when a company is expanding and making money hand over fist, they should not be giving their more valuable employees the short end of the stick.
Frankly, we should all post our salaries right outside our cubicles or offices. It would go along way to protecting our interests as employees and keeping the upper hand in pay negotiations.
Labels: work
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