# Proof of wage asked during an interview - allowed??



## poisson (15 Sep 2005)

After couple of positive interviews with a new company i was asked to show proof of my salary by the HR. 

My question is :

Is such practice is aloud in Ireland? 

If i refuse and the job is been turn down. can i attak them on that point?


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## stobear (15 Sep 2005)

*Re: Proof of wage asked during an interview - aloud??*

I am not sure if its allowed, but if you want the job badly enough what would be the problem? I don't think you have grounds to 'attack' them as they can site any reason for you not getting the offer. 

They must consider your salary to be an issue which might influence their decision.


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## Binomial (15 Sep 2005)

Hi Poisson,

If you have had some positive interviews regarding the position, it is likely that you are entering the negotiating stage. As far as I know the company is entitled to ask you for proof of your current salary. They should however let you know why they want the information and must undertake not to use the information in any other way.

For instance, they might ask for the information in order to formulate a package which would be acceptable to you. If however they used the information in negotiations with their existing staff then they would be in breach of data protection leglislation.

btw, Is the ability to spell a requirement of the position? If so I suggest you brush up on the old spelling! Best of luck in your negotiations.

BiNomial


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## tiger (15 Sep 2005)

On a related note, I believe previous employers when providing references will _confirm_ salary, job title, length of service etc. but will not disclose that information.

I would doubt they are entitled to demand proof of salary, but can't back that up.  Try looking at


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## 90210 (15 Sep 2005)

They may ask you to provide your current P60 as proof but you do not have to submit it, but your P45, which is a legal requirement, will detail your salary from your previous employer so they will see the figures on that document.



However if you have lied about your salary they may take a dim view and not decide to move the offer forward. But if you are not telling too many fibs your should be OK but stretching the boundary's too much will of course do you no favours.

You see if you are prepared to lie about such transparent details as salary, what else do you lie about in relation to qualifications and experience?


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## Card (15 Sep 2005)

Just to correct you there 90210, you don't have to submit your P45 to your new employer, you have the option of submitting the P45 to the tax office, who will then issue a tax cert directly to your new employer


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## zag (15 Sep 2005)

One possible reason they could be asking you for confirmation is that they also interviewed one of your colleagues who told them they were on a different salary level.

To answer your original question - yes, I believe they are allowed to ask you anything in the interview *except* questions surrounding marital and parental status.  I think it may also extend to racial and sexual issues.

Salary levels would be a reasonable thing to be queried about, and if there is any doubt in the interviewers mind there shouldn't be any problem asking for confirmation.

z


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## Humpback (15 Sep 2005)

zag said:
			
		

> One possible reason they could be asking you for confirmation is that they also interviewed one of your colleagues who told them they were on a different salary level.


 
Another reason for asking is that you could be trying to spoof your way into a higher paying job than you're on at the moment. A prospective employer mentioned this in an interview with me before.

They had someone in who they'd employed but immediately seemed to be out of their depths. A check was done on P60, and they found that they were paying this person over twice what they earned in previous job.

If you're spoofing them on salary, to try to get more out of them, then they're entitled to try to find out. And as mentioned above, it's not covered as a discriminatory question that they can't ask.

In my case, I tell them what I'm on and that I'm asking for more because of the risk in moving jobs, and going under probation for another 6-12months etc. This nicely explains the jump that we're all perfectly entitled to look for when moving jobs.


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## d2x2 (15 Sep 2005)

Pay should be based on the demands of the new job in the new company; it shouldn't have anything to do with past salary. 

Otherwise, the salary for a young graduate entering the job market as an engineer would be based on the wages he got at Mc Donald's while he was trying to support himself during college. Nonsensical.

If you are desperate for the job, give away your details. If not, point out that the company should know what responsibilities the job entails and how much they value that at.


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## 90210 (15 Sep 2005)

Card

Yes i know you can take that route (suspicious by its nature), but unless you have something to hide why would you ? 99 out of 100 times the P45 goes to the new employer , not only for Tax purposes but to also check the last employer stated and dates thereof. In this instance the individual is most certainly exagerating his salary.


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## Card (15 Sep 2005)

90210, I read your last post as stating that it was legal requirement to submit your P45 to your new employer, that's why i responded. I submitted my last P45 myself directly to tax officereason being that I was not starting the new job immediately so in order to speed things along and to 
ensure that I would not be on emergency tax I submitted my p45 to the tax office immediately upon receipt without any questions from my new employer.


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## RainyDay (15 Sep 2005)

poisson said:
			
		

> Is such practice is aloud in Ireland?


I'm pretty sure it is allowed. Our HR people would normally ask for this too.


			
				poisson said:
			
		

> If i refuse and the job is been turn down. can i attak them on that point?


I doubt if you could take an action against them on this point.


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## CCOVICH (15 Sep 2005)

I don't really see the difference between asking for a reference and asking for proof of salary.  Unless you've lied about your current salary (not smart), what difference does it make?


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## ajapale (16 Sep 2005)

Hi Poisson,

I think your question has been adequately answered. Are you happy with the responses?

aj


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## royrogers (16 Sep 2005)

Why would you want to work for an organisation that is so distrustful anyway!


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