Comments on: The next step for fair pay

By: corwin

corwin — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 00:21:17 +0000

Even people who are extremely bright are often at sea with predictions.But here are a couple.
1)The DJI is lower at 2,3,4 and 5 months into this administration.Many actual producers think ofPres Obama as over his head with making actual decisions of consequence.
2)There will be no movement on “fair pay” whatever that means.Diffidently,
I point out there is no way to place the term’fair’ into symbolic logic.Making folks who are counted on to accomplish things even more nervous about your thought process is self defeating.ANd I’dl9ike the readers to ponder some points
If the market underpays women ,why woulda corporation hire a man for the same job?
COuld the term ‘fair’ be substituted with the term “above what the market values”.Seriously.Think and reply.
And I’m not here to trumpet unpleasant thoughts to you folks.

By: Laurie in Mpls.

Laurie in Mpls. — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 22:06:11 +0000

I’ve never understood NOT being transparent about pay scales. But then again, I’ve never been in the top job. ;)

By: Kristen J.

Kristen J. — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 18:15:35 +0000

Even this is not a sufficient solution! The Wall Street Journal had an article on this issue a few weeks ago. Even IF a plaintiff has a claim, the federal judiciary is very hostile to discrimination claims. Which makes this recent Republican strategy very, very, very dangerous. The Republicans want Obama to appoint Bush's judges!!! (PDF). Which, for me...is not just a NO, but HELL NO.

By: Thomas

Thomas — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 15:02:37 +0000

Here’s a radical idea: mandate pay transparency. What if all salaries, bonuses and benefits were transparent? Sure, there may be people at the bottom of the scale who would feel umcomfortable, but mostly I think the better paid people would feel uncomfortable justifying the disparity.

By: Ouyang Dan

Ouyang Dan — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 14:22:11 +0000

This is so important! So many employers have rules about discussion pay and asking about pay. At my last job I did the research on their pay scale for the position I was seeking, asking an equal number of men and women what they made b/f I even interviewed. When they tried to hire me at $.50/hour less than what I had learned was starting, I pointed it out. My new boss first acted as though she had made a mistake (“I’m not exactly sure what the starting pay is, but I’ll look into it”), and then told me that I was not allowed to ask those kinds of questions.

I never understood how we were supposed to ensure that we were being paid fairly if we had no way of comparing our pay.

Thanks for posting this, Rachel!