Pay discrimination experiences?

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Has anyone ever experienced (or suspected) that they were subject to pay discrimination because of their neurology (whether you disclosed or not)?

I know that when you first get hired into a position, there is a defined band that is maintained by the HR dept, and that info is readily available to everyone - so you can't get fooled there, and upon initial hire / interview, many of us are good enough at concealing our quirks, so it's not that.

Where I DO think that pay discrimination occurs, is that when we go through an annual performance review, and the rules stipulate that if you get a certain rating then your salary increase is say 3-6%. If you did a very conscientious and quality job during the past 6 months or a year, but your more "popular" co-worker just did OK, you could still find yourself with the 3% increase and your co-worker with 6%. THAT, I absolutely believe, goes on in any given organization.

I was subject to pay discrimination near the start of my career in IT, when I found out that my more extroverted co-worker who did much less work than me got about $20,000 more a year than I did (don't ask me how I found out, I'm not supposed to say ) - he was your archetypical butt-kissing type, who got in around 7:15am when our boss came in, had breakfast with him, went to dinner or the gym with him even, was a very sales-minded individual who likely sold cars in a former life. Even when I was promoted to "senior" technical designer, my pay only went up a few thousand. They must have picked up on me not having many other options elsewhere due to my inherent social/nonverbal challenges most likely getting me screened out of posts for which I was otherwise qualified. I did have a co-worker who really liked me and accepted me despite my differences tell me that I should be making so much more (there, or elsewhere), and it upset him that the management was ostensibly biased against my neurology.

When I think about pay discrimination in the broader context, I think of traditional struggles like those of women and African-Americans. And I believe pay discrimination still exists for these groups, albeit much less (less than ours, let's put it that way). One article I read on pay discrimination for those groups postulated that the root cause of the pay discrimination was that these groups did not negotiate salary during the hiring stage after an interview, to the same degree as a (neurotypical) white male. So they were pegged at the lower end of the band. That's happened to me too actually.

And the answer to why is simple - again, we are in a group that traditionally has had less options around us, so we're less inclined to bargain by default, even though our bargaining power may be higher than we think. At that stage, the interviewing committee including the HR rep may not even perceive our "oddness" and take advantage of it.

This in contrast to African-Americans and women who simply cannot conceal their attributes at a face-to-face interview, so I admit that our experience with pay discrimination is not a perfect parallel to theirs. but having the divergent mindset that I do, I just thought I'd explore it "out loud"

A boss who wishes to keep his job or business pays his employees according to what that individual can produce for him; an employee who produces more will be paid more than one who produces less.

Another thing employers look for is employees with good attitudes rather than those who walk around with chips on their shoulders.

So, if you are willing and able to be productive, and can get rid of the attitude, you won't be "discriminated" against.

My qualifications for saying these things? Thirty-five years in the work world, with the last fourteen spent as an employer myself.

Good luck.

Sometimes I wonder. I'd been a nurse for over 25 years when I was employed in this nursing home about 2 years ago. Because of my seniority, I was the one orienting new hires who were also new nurses. I soon learned, however, that these new nurses were getting paid more than me. When I approached one of my managers about that he simply said he'll look into it. Anyway, to make a long story short, I quit the job over schedule changes about a month later. They insist they let me ago as a mutual parting of ways.

Bottom line: If you have a job, don't say anything about the pay inequality or you'll find yourself jobless so fast it'll make your head spin.

That sounds like a lot of work at whoring for only 20 grand.
That kind of life is a leech, they must find someone pathetic enough to suck up to, that means they can never go any higher than any "host" they can locate and sucker.
If their "leech-host" dies, retires, gets fired, or moves away, they better hope they've got lots of savings to burn until they can find another "leech-host" that fits their resume, locale, and accustomed income range.
He works hard for his money.

I am quite happy to work in a callcenter and that our performance can be quantified so easily for exactly that reason.

I think this is the most likely reason. The job market is... a market. You wouldn't pay $20,000 for a car if you could get it for $19,000, even if you thought it was well worth $20,000, right? Many employers apply the same approach to salaries - they will pay the least that it takes to retain employees and I would say this approach makes sense is perfectly valid for, shall we say, "easily replaceable" employees. Of course, many companies apply this approach to all employees, which I don't think is wise. For difficult-to-find talent it makes business sense to pay a bit more than necessary to keep the person happy and not looking for a job.

So either your employer thinks (rightly or wrongly) that you wouldn't be too hard to replace or they're bluffing, hoping that you'd think so. Depending on your situation, it might make sense to look for another job. The best time to look for a job is when you don't need one! You might be surprised at what else you can find and how much of a raise your current employer might offer if you do. Be discreet about it though - don't let your current employer know that you're looking for another job until you actually have another offer (in writing!) that you're prepared to accept.

It's times like this I'm glad I am unionized. Sure it sucks that lazy workers make the same money but I can relax and know I'm not getting screwed as my salary range is covered under a collective agreement. Of course, I am at the very top end of that range (5 different salary bands) due to my excellent work reviews and experience.

I remember being told by my first employer that I was easily replaceable. Sure I was but not by someone with my skills, experience and high attention to detail and pride. My old workplace (a retail store department) still looks like s*** since I left and that gives me a large sense of satisfaction. I was grossly underpaid and I was so naive I believed all the lies I was told about how generously I was paid (barely above minimum wage). Glad I'm outta there!