Pay Equity: An Overview for Executive Search Pay Equity | Page 6

Pay Equity: What What Should You should Do? you do? The list below provides guidance on some of the key areas for consideration for those seeking to prepare for the Pay Equity regulations. A review of these points will ensure that the process and policies you have in place will minimise risk of non-compliance. What should you do as a search firm/recruiter? • Instruct all staff that they must not inquire about a candidate’s salary on behalf of a prospective employer. • Instruct all staff that if they have historic salary data regarding a candidate then this must not be disclosed to any prospective employer or used to determine a compensation package. • It would be best to assume you would be treated as an employer or employer’s agent for the purposes of existing and future assignments in the applicable states and cities (currently New York City, San Francisco, Delaware, Massachusetts, Oregon, Philadelphia (likely) and Puerto Rico – watch for additional locations). • For existing salary data and history on candidates, it would appear there is no compulsion to delete this data but it must not be passed to the employer/client as part of the hiring process or used to screen candidates or determine compensation packages (and you may be called upon to prove that if you are holding the data and a complaint is made). Consequently, some firms may choose to delete the historic data to avoid risk of non-compliance. • If a candidate voluntarily discloses their salary, without prompting, then in most cases this can be verified (with their permission) and it may be used to determine the new compensation. • The legislation in most locations appears to allow discussion of the candidate’s expectations of salary and compensation. This may become the default marker for processing but it should still not be used to discriminate on salary proposals for the same or similar roles. • It will apply if the employer (head office or employing branch) is in the legislated locations. It’s likely to also be enforceable if the candidate is in those locations. www.invenias.com | [email protected]