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Comment by trabant00 | Hacker News Reader

I find myself at the other end of the equal pay problem - I am equally payed with equally titled but not equally working coworkers. The entire management chain has clearly different expectations from me: I get most if not all of the difficult tasks and my coworkers rely daily on my guidance.

In this quarter discussion with my manager I've been told I can not get a pay raise as it would create a discrepancy with my coworker salaries. As an current EU and formal communist republic citizen I find this worrying to say the least. The only option I have is to work less and browse youtube more. As that brings back communist memories I started looking for another job.

So I guess my question is how do they plan to measure the work part of "equal pay for equal work"?

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How is this any different from the normal state of affairs?

You think you work too much and are paid too little? Then leave, this has nothing to do with "equal pay".

> How is this any different from the normal state of affairs?

They explained that in their post. They aren't getting a raise because it would create a discrepancy with the pay bands. This is exactly the type of bureaucracy being enshrined in law here. It removes discretion and disincentivises those who are capable.

I believe their point is that it's thematically similar to the company policy they chafed under, and were reminded of communism by.

but that's still a diversion from the real problem: their boss isn't willing to give them a raise. Even with this legislation, if the boss wanted to give a raise they could simply change the salary and give a new title. The "pay bands" is just another excuse from a bad manager, and if the pay bands didn't exist then the manager would just find a different excuse.

> So I guess my question is how do they plan to measure the work part of "equal pay for equal work"?

I do hope that the new laws don't directly require that, but that that would just be a positive consequence of having public salary statistics for each company.

I.e. people would automatically start demanding equal pay if they roughly knew how much other people in that company earn. Especially for insecure or less agressive people (e.g. women, fresh graduates, foreigners, shy people,..) knowing exactly what a fair salary is, would give them more leverage / confidence during salary negotiations.

And all that happens automatically, without the government needing to dictate any specific salary requirements.

> I am equally payed with equally titled but not equally working coworkers. The entire management chain has clearly different expectations from me: I get most if not all of the difficult tasks and my coworkers rely daily on my guidance.

Careful with this line of thinking. It is just going to lead to aggrandizing yourself while downplaying and belittling others work. Once you get to that point you become the problem not others.

So no comparison of myself to others is allowed? Regarding work amount, difficulty or results? How exactly do I become the problem? Other than the fact that I'm leaving for another job?

You should ask for a promotion. Explain how you are taking a leadership role in your team and mentoring your peers. If you get a new title your employer can also cone up with a salary which no longer needs to match your current peers.

This sounds like a lie. There is no obligation to pay everyone the same (and neither would this regulation, once it is eventually agreed, create such an obligation).

Good luck finding another job. This is a problem of shitty management, not transparency, right?

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