Should salary be a secret?

Joe

We didn't have merit pay. Just straight up scale.

 

Stitch, I didn't mean to make you seem cold-hearted, but if you're making an above-average salary, and you share it, then the position becomes hard to hire because everyone wants what you made, then yes, that doesn't help out your co-workers. I guess if there's an axe to grind with them, it may make you feel better. But in the end, it only makes life tougher on them.

And I guess if you don't care about company policy, then it's a good thing your leaving that paper. Not sure that attitude will get you anywhere, but I'm guessing that's most likely because you're just leaving and not a reflection of your overall journalistic attitude.

Stitch, I want you to acknowledge that what you make (as you said in a previous post), for the paper your size, is not what a 23-year old kid should make who comes from a weekly paper. After all, I can tell you for a fact Stitch that the 30,000 circulation paper 90 minutes east of you, doesn't start their sports reporters out at what you make where you are. Your salary at a 7,000 circ. paper is an exception not a rule.

Also, I don't appreciate a "leverage" argument in that "it's higher cost of living, so I have to make more," or anything like that. Your situation isn't that much different than what LevinTBlack faces an hour and a half north of you or what I face three hours north of you where the oil industry in North Dakota is starting to centralize.

Our papers are not bumping up salaries for that reason. It would be nice if they did, but when I held your position where you're at, I started at 25,000 a year. How you finagled 7,500 more out of that position is beyond me. it's not unreasonable to expect your current newspaper to take that salary down to where it's been for the last how many years they've been in business.

And I just don't feel that it's worth complaining about.

 

For a kid out college, probably not. For someone with experience and also a family, they shouldn't expect and can't survive on entry-level wages. A job candidate is in a much-better negotiating position if they already have a job. I've had other offers in the past few years, some less and some more. I know I got the larger offers because I was already working. Like you said in another thread, I came in at that salary from another paper in the chain. They didn't have to hire me, though. If I couldn't make that, I would have declined the offer.

If I applied for jobs right now, I'd know I'd make less. I'd like a job where I don't qualify for food stamps and Medicaid, which is why I left the business.

Here's a tip for those who want or think they deserve more money. IT experience helps. I did more than just write stories in my first newspaper job. I headed up the Internet team, produced new content and my strategies almost doubled traffic on the website.

I justified getting raise in comparison to the revenue that was earned. Unfortunately, being just a writer, photographer and layout guy, it's hard to justify your contributions in dollar amounts. You have to get hard data to support your case.

You can't just be a run-of-the-mill candidate these days.

BTW, i would get upset if I didn't get a lunch or dinner break. It would be the only time I'd see my kids during on weekdays. Working more than 40 hours a week got under my skin as well because I had better things to do than work.

 

I left to come home, then left for an oil job and then got back in the industry, then came home again. I never once on here complained about my salary. I love my job and I love where I work.

Does anyone on here really believe that making 32,500 for a sports reporter position at a 7,000 circulation paper is realistic?

If you think it is, then you've got a big surprise waiting for you when you take your next journalism job.
28,000 is one thing, 29,000 is one thing, but don't try and tell me a person has to make less than 30,000 a year to live there.

I have numerous friends teaching at the private school there, trust me, they don't make what you make. And they don't work a second job while they're teaching.

Also, your situation is different. From what i understand, you've got a lot more to pay for than a college student who is single. So don't assume that everyone has the same situation as you.

As far as position leaving my co-workers, why don't you call them up and ask them what it was like working with me? Or go into your ME's office and ask her or look over at your SE and ask him? My ability to get along with people speaks for itself.

You asked for that salary? at a 7,000 circulation paper? When you go to work next at a 14,000 circulation paper, here's a tip: Don't ask for 65,000 a year. You may not get the job.

For the record: You can live in Dickinson on less than 30,000 a year. I have many friends in Dickinson doing it right now who aren't working two jobs.

 

I don't want to know what my friends or colleagues make, because if it is more than me, I will be pissed off. So yes, it should be a secret or someone may get punched. (Them or my boss)

 

I want to make very clear, the only thing that should influence the amount of money you make in any job should be experience, education and qualifications -- not if you have a family.

All other factors being equal, a single person should expect to make just as much as a married person with several children at the same job. It is unfair (and illegal) to pay someone more "because they have a family to support."

 

Turtle, is it illegal? Do you know of any cases?

In a perfect world, yes. Employers don't have to hire an employee at the rate he/she wants. You're worth what people want to pay you. It's supply and demand.

 

It is illegal to discriminate based on family status for federal employees/applicants, pursuant to the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978.

According to the EEOC, many states and municipalities have enacted similar laws.
http://www.eeoc.gov/facts/qanda.html

A quick Google search shows about 21 states and 55 municipalities with these laws on the books.

I'm looking up case law. I'll get back to you.

 

The law doesn't seem to be clear about private business, at least when it comes to family status.

 

If the private business is incorporated in a state with one of those laws on the books, or operates in a municipality with a similar law, it applies. There is no federal law applied to private business, but state and local laws apply.

Also, from a gender perspective, the Equal Pay Act of 1963 applies. If a man is paid more than a woman under the assumption that he as a family to provide for, that's illegal. That's a federal law that applies to all employers.

 

A woman supporting her family with a few years of experience in the business should apply for my old job. That would be the true test of discriminatory behavior.

The law does not apply if a single guy doesn't get as much money.

 

For what it's worth, I was stunned by how much (mid-$30,000s) I got at my first job out of college. I would have taken $3K less happily, but I was told the position (entry-level copy editor/designer) had a designated pay.

Obviously, I never told my bosses this. But they made clear that there wouldn't be any negotiating on salary. That was what it had to be for the position.

Granted, that was at a top-100 circulation paper. It's also worth noting that I have yet to get anything more than a very nominal one-year anniversary raise.