Replies

Can’t go along with this. Luckily, I’m not in California and don’t have to.

Yes, when making hiring decisions, my dad/boss/co-owner and I, in an ideal world, would know exactly what a position is worth, be able to easily identify a person that fits pretty close, and efficiently deal with hiring the right person at the right salary.

We live in a far from ideal world, though. Especially in our small, complicated engineering company, every single person is different and most don’t ever fit. A chemical engineer coming a big firm like Bechtel will both be too expensive and likely too pigeonholed in their focus to do what we do. Knowing what they were previously getting paid lets us know whether we should even spend any time on them trying to come up with a more realistic offer given their apparent skillset or if they were just banking it at their old place during good times and our offer is not going to sit well with them. Even if they do seem open to a reduced offer, you can pretty much tell how quickly they’ll jump ship as soon the market picks up and the big boys have tons of money to wastefully throw around again. It’s a game, and you need to know what the playing field looks like.

But, to just strip things down to brass tacks, obviously, the premise of this law—leveling the playing field between men and women—is based on a complete myth. No one I’ve seen has more perfectly tackled this than Maddox in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDj_bN0L8XM Five minute mandatory watching to know how to argue against this crap.

Also, this is just another regulation and hassle companies do not need. HR is already a terrifying minefield. And I live in Texas which you’d think wouldn’t be that bad. Nominally, we’re allowed to terminate for almost any reason at any time. Practically, however, it’s the worst scenario of walking on eggshells, where you have to pick every word you say perfectly to avoid the potential specter of a lawsuit. It’s so draining, and this would just be another thing to play chess about when you just want to get things done. It’s awful. Stay the hell out of my business ESPECIALLY when you’re using fiction to justify your further incursion.