A friend and I have been working for the same company since the early 90s. There were four of us in the same group doing the same job.

Recently, the other two resigned. It has come to our attention that one new hire (a woman with the same job as ours) is making significantly more than we are. And, the other posted position (same job as ours) was at a salary significantly higher than ours. We confronted the boss and was told that the posted position's salary was a typo (we have not mentioned that we know that the new person is making more... we only know that from something she said to us). How can we find out for "real" story? What can we do without risking our jobs?

We're the ones training the new person who knows much less than we do about the basics of the job which have nothing to do with the way in which we work. Thank you.

Thanks for your note. Given everything that you have said, you are correct in wanting to get a straight answer. The best way to investigate the situation is to file a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (the government agency responsible for investigating job discrimination). The problem however, is that these complaints are incredibly backlogged and, therefore, the response time and be up to three years. So I would suggest doing that as a first step--at least then you can document what you perceive is happening and then your employer will know that someone is watching. That alone might motivate them to change the situation. If after you have done this it appears to be taking a long time, you could send a note to your employer stating what you know to be the facts. Keep things in writing, that way it will be documented.

I hope that helps.

—Amy