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How certain are you this happening? Have you talked to the cofounders? I'm not suggesting its not happening, and its certainly a lawsuit if it is the case but b
by kirinan 12y ago
How certain are you this happening? Have you talked to the cofounders? I'm not suggesting its not happening, and its certainly a lawsuit if it is the case but be damn sure that they are doing it before you take any legal action/go open with it. It would destroy you along with them if you take it to the public and you are wrong. If you can without a reasonable doubt say that they are, and have evidence that isn't based on negotiations or bonuses, then by all means sue them in court: you are owed money. This is a really hard case to prove though because the burden of proof is on your and thus you must be able to prove via emails from the founders/HR or recorded chats (concrete admissible evidence) of them saying to discriminate against people or its just slander. If you slander or libel them without proof, you will get sued and you will lose. It will also damage your reputation and future career prospects. Just because your salaries are lower doesn't mean there is discrimination; the other people could have negotiated better or negotiated at all. There can be other more innocent things as well such as buddies of the founders getting paid more not because they are men but because they are friends. There are a lot of scenarios at play here, and if they are discriminatory I hope you the best to win the case. Nobody deserves to be discriminated against.
- codergal 12y agoThat's the trickiest part of this -- I don't have direct access to payroll / hard evidence. It doesn't look like a negotiation gap, unfortunately -- it looks like it's more on the company's end. I have enough equity that I want the company to succeed -- I also know we're losing top women because of it.
- kirinan 12y agoI think ultimately than it would be best to move on, tell the cofounders what you suspect is happening and let them know they are losing top talent because of it. Its really unfortunate that you have to do that in 2014, but it might be the first time that you encounter illegal things being done to the detriment of employees or customers but it won't be the last. The best thing to do for you is to leave, and not worry about. The last you want is for them to tell their network that you are slandering them or you are a "bad employee". Its unfortunate that they are probably the kind of people that would also try to ruin your career. It sucks, but there isn't much you can do/should do without hard evidence.
- neilk 12y ago> There can be other more innocent things as well such as buddies of the founders getting paid more not because they are men but because they are friends. That is far from innocent.
- kirinan 12y agoOh its more innocent than discrimination. Is it stupid business practices? Sure. Is it illegal? Its not. Im not suggesting people should do it, you should pay an employee what they are worth the business, but ultimately things that are legal and stupid business decisions are more innocent than blatant discrimination.