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You have the right to reveal your salary to your co-workers, even in a non-union workplace. I know, because I've been fired twice for doing so.

If the labor market is to be free and open, it is important that employees have the information they need to make the right job choice. Many employers discourage or prohibit employees from talking among themselves about their salaries. I suppose they think they can save a little money by paying some employees less for the same work, and they think they can get away with it if the employee doesn't know about it. If elected, I will propose legislation that prohibits employers from interfering with employees' right to discuss salaries.

Discrimination based on race, gender and a whole range of factors is already illegal in Michigan. But how is wage discrimination to be prevented if employees are forced to keep their salaries secret? How would they know?

The first employer to fire me for revealing my salary was Farm Bureau Services here in Lansing. That was in 1979. I didn't know there was anything I could do about it until someone at the downtown YMCA, where I played racquetball, showed me an article in White Collar Management about an employee in a similar situation who’d complained to the National Labor Relations Board. Apparently the discussion of wages among employees is protected by federal law even if there is no union. I filed a complaint and the NLRB ordered Farm Bureau Services to pay me for all the time I was off. We settled for $7000.

The second employer to fire me for revealing my salary was Foremost Insurance in Grand Rapids. This time, I'd already found another job, but I filed a complaint with the NLRB anyway and Foremost was ordered to post notices in their offices stating that employees had the right to discuss salaries.

My legislation would require all employers to post a notice that employees are free to discuss their salaries as long as the discussions do not interfere with work.