3 Ways to Deal If Youre Illegally Asked For Your Salary History

3 Ways to Deal If Youre Illegally Asked For Your Salary History Among the many uncomfortable or downrightillegal questionsyou could be asked during an bewerbungsinterview are questions about your age, marital status, or religious background. And any interview question that pries into your personal life in a way that distracts from your actual job skills and experiences could mean that you are potentially being discriminated against.Out of all of these questions, however, one that may come across as slightly mroe innocuous is What is your current salary? Many job applications inquire about your salary history, so technically theres nothing out of the ordinary with an interviewer doing the same, right? Wrong.Being asked for your salary history has, in the past, felt like a lose-lose interview tactic. Its one that puts an interviewee into a metaphoricaly corner where they may feel they have no choice but to awkwardly evade the question, lie, or be upfront andrisk being lowballedin a new job role. All of which are not only nerve-wracking options, but can also reinforce a cycle of pay disparities in the working world. Notably, the gender pay eu-agrarpolitik means that women are mucksmuschenstill making about $.80 to every white mans dollar, according toInstitute For Womens Policy and Research. Women of color are hit the hardest by this pay discrimination. And being forced to share prior pay intel with potential employers can make escaping the pay disparity cycle feel downright impossible.Thankfully, certain cities and states likeNew York City,California, andMassachusettsare beginning to fight back against this mode of discrimination by banning employers from seeking information about a job candidates salary history. But even with new laws being implemented, on occasion, the question of past salary can still come up either intentionally by design or unwittingly by hiring managers. Interpreting it as a red flag and moving on to other employment opportunities is a sim ple yet sometimes overly simplistic way of reacting to getting this question. In this situation, what other options do you have?Deflect Or RedirectDepending on how firm you want to be with an interviewer, you always have the option of relaying to your interviewer that you are not legally obligated to answer questions about your salary history. You can say something like I am not an expert on employment law, but I dont think Im obliged to provide that information, saidGreg Szymanskidirector of menschlich resources atGeonerco Management.Or you can deflect by asking in turn if the employer has a range in mind for the position, said New York attorneyRobert S. Herbst.Research and know your worthYou may know that your job experiences and skills warrant a higher salary offer, but make sure that you have the evidence to back it up. This means being in the know about the salary averages within your industry. Them employ negotiation strategies like offering the highest end of a salary range as your financial bottom line and sharpen yournegotiationtactics.If a potential employer does in fact provide a salary range, according to Herbst, an applicant can state that they are confident that they and the company would be able to come to a mutually successful arrangement and move on from there.File a reportSometimes interviewers are overly persistent, despite an interviewees best attempts to deflect or redirect salary history inquiries. You may even be able to avoidsalary history questionson a job application or in-person, or you may even have answered honestly as leverage in your negotiation but you may still feel that a violation occurred.If so, be sure to research whether or not your city or state has any laws against salary history inquiries and arm yourself with options.