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Comment by seanwilson | Hacker News Reader

I always like to think of what the reaction would be if you asked in reverse and use that as a guide e.g. what's the salary history for the company employees currently in the role you're applying for?

Pretty sure you wouldn't get an answer so why should you feel bad for not answering?

I hate these back-and-forths too where both sides know the game being played but have to be coy about it for no good reason. I'd prefer to just say you're not prepared to share that information and if they pushed be upfront that everyone knows in salary negotiation you shouldn't share this and it's irrelevant if you happened to be underpaid before.

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> what's the salary history for the company employees currently in the role you're applying for?

This would probably cause someone's head to explode.

California now requires that companies reveal the salary range if asked.

And it's illegal in California to seek a candidate's salary history or use it to determine their pay.

Connecticut as well, at least for asking you or getting your salary history from a 3rd party. Not sure that our law addresses using it to determine pay if you volunteer the info yourself.

This is pretty great! I always thought that individuals, being, well... individuals, have a systemic disadvantage in these situations and that that should change. Good on CA for trying this, let's hope it works out. :)

Yeah, if any of my friends in my field or colleagues ask me what I'm making, I have no problems telling them to help with this system disadvantage.

We should normalize being OK with telling our colleagues what we make. Our HR dept. might tell us it is private, but that's only to help the employer keep the information edge in negotiations.

> Our HR dept. might tell us it is private

And a hefty fine for doing just that was the best I could come up with. Glad someone else had a better idea that works in a less confrontational way. When I ask a prospective employer for a range and they don't simply answer frankly, I know to walk away before landing myself in a toxic environment. Of course, that assumes the privilege of being able to walk away...

It has been my experience that people from some countries share compensation info with their peers from the same country, and people from some other countries don’t share it at all. And some are in the middle: tell friends, don’t tell coworkers.

Seems like the first set of countries should have a negotiating advantage. Not sure if it does but it ought to.

So, I think that norm already exists, but not among all groups.

Do you have a source for that? I'd actually never heard this before and my google-fu is poor today.

> Assembly Bill 168 prohibits California employers from asking about an applicant’s prior salary. If an applicant asks, employers are also required to provide a pay range for the job. [0]

Google-fu tip: I just submitted that user's full comment to google, and this was the top result. It works frequently.

The bill's relevant text [1]:

> (c) An employer, upon reasonable request, shall provide the pay scale for a position to an applicant applying for employment.

[0] https://www.shouselaw.com/ca/labor/discrimination/salary-his....

[1] https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtm...

Good luck getting an answer, though.

"The job posting actually covers a number of internal positions with different salary ranges" is usually what I hear when I try asking.

I guess respond with "Ok, can you email all of the specific positions and ranges?"

I wonder if that's true in MA as well. I know they passed a similar ban on asking salary history.

I actually asked for and received the salary midpoint for a promotion I was offered before deciding to accept. HR, in most cases, should be willing to share salary ranges for positions.

It's because nobody in the industry wants to acknowledge that there's a power imbalance. You really might need a job, but guess what? Your interviewer already has one.

> You really might need a job, but guess what? Your interviewer already has one.

Supposedly, or at least so I keep hearing, there is a talent shortage (justifying things like H-1B). If that's the case, the power imbalance between employer and potential employee ought to run the other direction (the interviewer is irrelevant, as they are merely an agent of the employer.)

Yes, in the tech industry there is a power imbalance - but in the favor of the employee!

Perhaps the interviewer could invert a binary tree on the whiteboard, once you are done with your brain teaser?

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