00:00An extremely excited tech worker didn't hesitate to take to social media to celebrate
00:04after receiving some very good news. Sadly, her celebratory TikTok video resulted in a
00:10very costly lesson as it raised questions for her employer. While some agreed that the clip
00:15was taboo, others don't think the young woman did anything wrong. Lexi Larson, a Colorado tech
00:21worker, was extremely excited to receive a $1.20,000 salary increase. Going from $1.70,000
00:28to $1.90,000 was a reason to celebrate. So, in her excitement, Larson enthusiastically took to TikTok
00:35to share the good news, even going so far as to point out how much her paychecks had increased
00:40with the salary boost. Sadly, the footage resulted in a costly lesson. After Lexi's employer became
00:47aware of her TikTok videos and the salary information she had shared, they weren't happy, to say the
00:52least. In fact, the Colorado tech worker went from receiving a raise to being let go as her employer
00:57fired her from her job for publicly sharing her pay increase. So TikTok got me fired, Lexi Larson
01:04admitted in a subsequent video. My employer found my TikToks and really, really did not like that I
01:10was sharing my salary and stuff like that, she continued. They said my social media posts made
01:15them question my judgment as an employee, Lexi further. Although some think the termination was
01:20justified and believe the young woman should not have overshared private information with strangers,
01:25others strongly disagree. While no one can fault the young woman for being happy about receiving a
01:30raise, discussing salary where your co-workers and colleagues could hear or see it has long been
01:35taboo. However, times are changing as a reporter for Inside Edition pointed out. Revealing your salary
01:42used to be a big taboo, something you never, ever talked about with your colleagues, but now a younger
01:47generation is saying they have no problem laying it all out there, the reporter said, and she's not wrong.
01:52In fact, it's a recent trend that's been called salary transparency, where people share how much
01:58they make it a job in hopes of empowering people to get paid what they deserve, Inside Edition explained.
02:04While some argue that sharing salary information in a public forum only amounts to flexing for cloud,
02:10some experts say salary transparency is a good thing. We should be talking about what we're getting
02:15paid because we want to make sure there is transparency. That can help to eliminate or reduce bias,
02:20and that can help close the wage gaps we're seeing based on gender and race, CNBC correspondent Sharon
02:26Epperson said. As always, however, there are two sides to the debate. Yes, salary transparency may
02:33expose unfair disparities in pay among employees, but it can also lead to conflict amongst colleagues.
02:39In addition, it may tie an employer's hands when it comes to issuing pay increases and may actually do
02:44the exact opposite of its intended purpose, causing some employers to withhold raises out of fear
02:49that they may be accused of discrimination for not giving everyone the same pay rate. And, if we're
02:55being honest, some employees are simply worth more to a company than others. For example, an employer
03:01may have a bachelor's prepared employee that has proven more valuable than a master's prepared employee.
03:07I've seen this myself in my nursing career, where further education doesn't necessarily translate to
03:12a more valuable employee in the field. While the employee with a lesser degree might be more deserving of
03:18the raise, the employer may decide against it, because they know the employee with a master's
03:23degree will demand more if they find out about it. Regardless of our opinion, however, the law is clear.
03:29According to the law firm of John P. Mahoney-esque, attorneys at law, you cannot be fired for discussing
03:35wages at work, thanks to federal protection that many people do not know about. The National Labor
03:40Relations Act, NLRA, established in 1935, made it illegal for an employer to fire an employee just for
03:48talking about wages at work. In 2014, President Obama signed an executive order, non-retaliation for
03:56disclosure of compensation information, that helped further cement the NLRA's power and importance.
04:01Due to these federal employment laws, you can converse with co-workers about how much each of you
04:06makes in a given pay period. With NLRA having been around for decades, why do so many people
04:12believe they can be terminated or penalized for talking about their salary among colleagues?
04:16We can only guess, but it does seem possible that employers and companies may intentionally
04:21propagate this rumor in hopes of keeping their workers quiet in an attempt to save money by paying
04:26some employees less than they are actually worth for the same work. Was it the case here,
04:32or were Lexi Larson's TikTok videos a legitimate reason to question her judgment? You decide.
