[marsRoverDev]

The problem at least in France is that prospective employers will demand your pay slips from your previous job. If you are early in your career, they will use this to depress your wages as much as possible, making arguments like "well, we can't just give you a 40% uplift". So if your first employer screws you, the ones that follow can as well.

Personally, I would just forge one with a much higher pay level - but most people who play by the rules get screwed royally.

[johncoltrane]

Well, I entered the workforce in 1996 and I have never seen or heard of that practice here in France.

[VSerge]

I never have either, and this would be an immediate red flag in my book. If an employer has such bad practices when they try to recruit you, I can't imagine that working for them could be anything one would want.

[Cthulhu_]

That's absolutely shit, and that practice will end once this legislation passes.

[giantg2]

"but most people who play by the rules get screwed royally."

That's some universal truth right there.

[esnard]

Reminder: forgery / use of forged documents is forbidden in France, as per article 441-1 of the penal code.

A man was recently sentenced to 4 months of jail time because he lied about his salary to rent an apartment. [0]

[0]: https://www.capital.fr/economie-politique/un-locataire-conda...

[conradfr]

Still kind of a common practice, at least to rent in Paris.

Also he only got caught because he wasn't paying the rent.

[baybal2]

There used to be another country which made resumes into a legal document: https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbeitsbuch#/media/Datei%3AA...

[skywal_l]

The fact that someone can ask you for your salary before renting you an apartment is not equivalent to what you point to.

I would prefer this system to the Equifax's panopticon to be honest.

The best system would be to have a third party insure your rent. So you would only communicate these kind of information to the third party of your choice with which you would have a legal contract including a privacy clause.

[gryn]

in France you're asked for your last pay slip(s) and last year's tax statement. the tax statement has a code that you can input to verify the authenticity of the document. https://www.economie.gouv.fr/particuliers/authenticite-avis-...

[raxxorrax]

That would make renting even more expensive and it is almost always a bad deal for anyone under a certain income.

You have to legislate that away or legislate heavy property tax for real estate that is not used for personal living. Which might be sensible and necessary anyway if you look at price developments.

[emteycz]

Well and all the communist states too. Your personal ID was a small booklet that contained all your employment info. Police frequently checked it and told your workplace if you did anything out of the ordinary.

[tripa]

French here, never heard of the practice.

Closest I've had is current job, a global company, asking me first and last payslip of my previous employment, from which I was allowed/encouraged to retract information. I figure all they really wanted to check was employment and job title.

[conradfr]

It never happened to me in 20+ years of working in France.

I've also almost always lied about my previous pay when asked (which recently has been less than before for some reason) to better match what I was seeking.

[ricktdotorg]

good grief, that is shocking (and presumably legal)! well, i guess not for long, assuming that FR adheres to such rules.

[bestouff]

French here, never seen that. I have been asked for my previous salary but not for pay slips.

[jeromenerf]

It has not been my experience in 15+ years. It seems it's not prohibited though.

[Katzmann1983]

Photoshop to the rescue!