This Boise worker was ordered not to discuss her salary with others. Here’s what she did
A Boise woman prohibited from sharing her salary with co-workers and people outside her office has filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board.
Robin Crotteau said her employment contract with Boise-based Apex Leaders demanded that the “employee must not disclose, either directly or indirectly, any information, including any of the terms of this agreement, regarding salary or bonuses to any person, including other employees of Apex; however, employee may discuss such terms with immediate family and any legal, tax or accounting specialists who provide employee with individual legal, tax or accounting advice.”
Apex Leaders recruits and vets executives and industry leaders to advise private equity investors about the firms they consider investing in. Founded in San Francisco in 2009, the company moved to Boise in 2012 and is located at 1109 W. Main St., No. 500.
Crotteau worked as a research associate for Apex Leaders from June 2019 until earlier this month, when she left the company after securing employment with another firm. Crotteau, who started with a base salary of $40,000 plus undisclosed bonuses, was given a raise to $60,950 in January. She filed the complaint on Feb. 2, according to an online NLRB case log.
Crotteau shared the 2019 contract, an email describing a raise she received in January that also carried the prohibition, and the NLRB complaint with the Idaho Statesman.
Salary confidentiality requirements may violate labor law
She said the contract provision violated national labor law.
“The thing that kind of killed me about all of this is I had directly brought it up with my manager several times, and I know that other people had, and through anonymous feedback,” Crotteau said by phone. “And so I feel like they were given so many opportunities over almost three years and never acted on it.”
Crotteau said she brought it up again during her exit interview with Patrick West, an Apex Leaders vice president who handles human resources responsibilities. She said he indicated it wasn’t a problem.
Company founder and CEO Dave Myers, an owner, and Vice President Justin Fishburn did not return phone calls seeking comment. Myers, Fishburn and West did not respond to subsequent emails.
Under the National Labor Relations Act, employees have the right to discuss wages with co-workers.
“Wages are a vital term and condition of employment, and discussions of wages are often preliminary to organizing or other actions for mutual aid or protection,” the National Labor Relations Board says on its website.
“You may have discussions about wages when not at work, when you are on break, and even during work if employees are permitted to have other non-work conversations. You have these rights whether or not you are represented by a union.”
In 2014, then-President Barack Obama signed an executive order prohibiting employers from retaliating against employees or applicants who discuss wages.
“When employees are prohibited from inquiring about, disclosing, or discussing their compensation with fellow workers, compensation discrimination is much more difficult to discover and remediate, and more likely to persist,” Obama wrote.
Crotteau feared that the company, which she said has about 50 employees, might fire her in retaliation if she filed the complaint while still employed at Apex.
She said she hopes the NLRB complaint will force Apex Leaders to change its policy and allow other workers to talk freely about their salaries without threat of reprisal.
The NLRB’s case log shows that the NLRB’s Denver office sent Apex a letter on Feb. 3 informing the company of the complaint. The log does not indicate that the company has replied.
Crotteau wondered whether she and other employees were being underpaid, and that that’s why Apex barred them from discussing salaries.
“It made me feel terrible, undervalued,” she said. “It also makes me feel like I’m doing something wrong by filing a complaint, like, I’m being unreasonable or out of line. We should be able to discuss those things.”
Some state laws require job postings to list pay ranges
Salary disclosures have become a hot topic across the country.
California, Washington, Nevada, Colorado, Connecticut, and Maryland have enacted laws requiring some salary-range disclosures for job applicants, with Rhode Island to follow next year. On May 15, New York City will require all job postings to reveal minimum and maximum salaries.
The laws are meant to boost salaries for women, who have historically been paid less than men performing the same job.
Crotteau said she’s proud of her efforts to ensure pay equity.
“Thankfully, I had co-workers that also knew that this clause was in there, and we were very open about discussing pay,” she said. “I knew I was being underpaid, and discussing it outside of work made me feel like I wasn’t crazy, I was being undervalued.”
Having Apex Leaders ignore the law was especially troubling, Crotteau said, because the company operates on a series of core values that “present itself as fair, transparent, welcoming and inclusive.”
It’s one thing to work at a company that doesn’t articulate those values, Crotteau said, but she was disappointed Apex Leaders ignored its own creed, which took up an entire page in her four-page employment contract.
“It made me feel gaslit in this environment where on one hand they’re telling you, ‘We care about our people, we want this open, transparent culture,’” Crotteau said. “And then, in the meantime, you’re having to sign these confidentiality clauses.”
This story was originally published February 22, 2022 at 4:00 AM.
