How Do You Handle Salary Verification When Past Employers Won't Confirm?

Hi,

We are facing a problem verifying the salary of a candidate. Before the candidate joins us, we conduct a cross-check of their work history. The HR department of the candidate's previous company verifies all details except the salary. In response to our request, they state that they are "not providing verification on the salary part." Our dilemma lies in how to assess the candidate's salary when their last employer is unwilling to verify it.

Please obtain the salary credit particulars from the bank or request the employee's salary credit statement. The accounting personnel may have the employee's details, in which case it would be better to obtain the particulars from the department. Otherwise, inquire about the employee's tax deduction particulars or the form provided by the previous employer for tax deducted at the source or tax payment details (Form 16A - where you will find the complete salary earned for a year and the tax deducted by the employer (the period may vary)).

Best of luck...

Dear Member,

You can ask for a bank statement of the last six months. You may also gain insight by speaking with another or former employee of the same organization.

Apart from all suggestions given by learned members - what is the average industry salary for this profile? Is there any wide variation in demand for salary? Being in the industry, HR people do have a fair idea of what the previous employer could have been paying an employee with this qualification/experience, etc.

Salary Verification Methods

What's the reference document you are using to verify the salary—Salary Slip or any other document? However, I find "not providing verification on salary part" odd. Did that company give a jacked-up salary certificate to this person that they don't want to get caught certifying officially? Or is there something else amiss? Like other members suggested, bank statements are one way to verify. Form-16 data could be another.

If you are in the IT sector, I am not sure about Nathrao's suggestion regarding comparing with industry data. IT salaries vary widely across companies and locations for the same set of skills. Why not speak to the CEO/MD of that company? This could be another way.

Regards,
TS

When requesting documentation such as a salary slip, appointment letter, or increment letter, you will find both the monthly and annual breakdowns.

Thank you to all members for the prompt reply. The candidate has submitted his salary slip and appointment letter as well, and based on that, we have hired the candidate without any further delay. We are an IT company, and salary comparison will be a little difficult.

We are quite surprised why the previous employer is not verifying his salary slip or providing any comments on that. Maybe the candidate is having some internal discussions or something of that sort.

We have discussed the same thing with the CEO and have hired the candidate, requesting to submit the bank statement as well. Let's see what happens.

Thanks again for all your responses.