A New York City woman says she is looking for a “new” job at her current company after noticing her employer shared a job posting on LinkedIn for her position that that seemingly paid a much higher salary than her own.
My company just listed on LinkedIn a job posting for what I’m currently doing (so we’re hiring another UX writer) and now thanks to salary transparency laws, I see that they intend to pay this person $32k-$90k more than they currently pay me, so I applied.
— Kimberly Nguyen-Poet Laureate of Pay Transparency (@knguyenpoetry) March 7, 2023
via People:
Kimberly Nguyen says she recently noticed her company shared a job posting on LinkedIn for a new UX writer, a position that she currently holds at the company.
In a series of tweets, Nguyen — who says in her Twitter bio that she’s a Vietnamese-American poet — said she checked out the posting, only to realize the salary offered was between $32,000 and $90,000 more than what she currently earns at a similar position.
So, she said, she reapplied.
The 25-year-old told BuzzFeed she “felt disrespected” after seeing the post. “I don’t make anywhere close to what the listing advertised,” she told the outlet.
Nguyen shared the same sentiment in her thread on Twitter, where she thanked salary transparency laws for bringing the issue to light.
“I’ve been asking for a raise for months and they’re out here flaunting they’re willing to pay a new person at least $32k more than me??? For the same job??” she wrote Tuesday in one tweet, which has been viewed more than 12 million times.
Nguyen did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment. She did not disclose the name of the company that employs her.
In response to one commenter, Nguyen said she reached out to the UX writers group chat for her workplace, and asked if they were allowed to apply for the job. Instead, “an emergency meeting” was called to address the job posting, she added.
The original job posting was eventually taken down, but reappeared a short time later on the site, Nguyen said.
She later tweeted that it was supposedly meant to be “an internal posting,” which she said doesn’t explain the giant jump in salary, compared to what she says she earns.
This apparently is not the first time Nguyen has addressed pay inequity issues while working for the company. She said she has been arguing about the issue “for months,” and has informed her managers on multiple occasions that she is underpaid.
“I have gotten the runaround, and they know they can do this right now in a tough labor market,” Nguyen wrote Tuesday on Twitter.
Nguyen also criticized the company for their hypocrisy surrounding diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace. “There were tangible actions they could’ve taken and they chose to perform these values,” she wrote. “No thank you.”
Speaking with BuzzFeed, Nguyen said her company has not responded to her application for the higher paid position. “I’m actually pretty sure they’re going to fire me for this whole debacle,” she added.
Nguyen has announced on Twitter that she is looking for new UX writing roles to apply to.
If you ask us, it sounds like the early makings of a potential lawsuit. What would you do if you were in her position?
