Thursday, October 25, 2012

Equal Pay For Equal Work??

I watched a little bit of the baseball highlights, and started thinking about....The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. 

MLB baseball salaries are all over the place.  Some players have deferred compensation.  Other contracts are front-loaded, and some are heavier toward the end.  A lot of them have performance clauses. 

Pick two Major League Baseball players whose performance/results are closest.  You'll have a helluva time finding them, because of hitting, throwing, fielding and base-running differences, but try anyway. 

Once you've found two that are remotely close, look at how long each has been in the league. 

Then look at how long each is likely to remain in the league. 

Then look through the newspapers and try to learn if they're equally good leaders in the clubhouse. 

Find two players who are identical.  Equal.  The same. 

Then look at what they're paid.  I bet the pay rates aren't even close. 

There is no such thing, anywhere on earth, as equal work for equal pay.  People aren't the same, no matter how much our government Lords'n'Masters want them to be. 

But apply this same little test to your workplace.  Pick out someone else who does your job, but who is really, really bad at it.  Now, prove that you're better than him. Convince your boss that you deserve to be paid more, and that he should take the risk of giving you more money.  Prove beyond all doubt that you're better than the slacker. 

Will your proof hold up in court?  Maybe, maybe not.

Get ready to be paid the same as the slacker.  The Law Of Unintended Consequences is going to kick your ass. 

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