{
  "registry_version": "2026.08.2",
  "data": {
    "title": "Unstated Compensation Band Discrepancy",
    "status": "active",
    "evidence_ids": [
      "EVD-005"
    ],
    "content": "# Unstated Compensation Band Discrepancy\n\nCandidate market rate exceeds budgeted compensation for the requisition, but salary band was never published or clarified early.\n\n### Structural Context\n- **Actor:** `policy`\n- **Nature:** `rule`\n- **Removability:** `intermediary`\n\n### Causal Relations\n- Amplifies `M-013` — Mid-Process Role Requirement Redefinition\n- Masks `M-001` — Genuine Technical Skill Shortfall\n\n### Non-Inferences\n- Rejection does not mean candidate is overpriced for the market, only mismatched with this specific employer budget.",
    "id": "M-004",
    "type": "mechanism",
    "summary": "Candidate market rate exceeds budgeted compensation for the requisition, but salary band was never published or clarified early.",
    "operates_at": [
      "B-004",
      "B-009"
    ],
    "emissions": [
      {
        "artifact": "A-002",
        "fidelity": "euphemism",
        "likelihood": "high",
        "evidence": [
          "EVD-005"
        ]
      },
      {
        "artifact": "A-005",
        "fidelity": "direct",
        "likelihood": "medium",
        "evidence": [
          "EVD-005"
        ]
      },
      {
        "artifact": "A-013",
        "fidelity": "euphemism",
        "likelihood": "medium",
        "evidence": [
          "EVD-002"
        ]
      }
    ],
    "facets": {
      "actor": "policy",
      "nature": "rule",
      "visibility": "opaque",
      "removability": "intermediary"
    },
    "amplifies": [
      "M-013"
    ],
    "masks": [
      "M-001"
    ],
    "evidence_level": "supported",
    "honest_baseline": false,
    "specimens": [
      {
        "kind": "chat",
        "label": "The number nobody published",
        "lines": [
          {
            "speaker": "Recruiter",
            "at": "week 4",
            "text": "Before the manager round — what were your expectations again?",
            "tell": false
          },
          {
            "speaker": "Candidate",
            "at": "week 4",
            "text": "85–95k, as I mentioned at the screen.",
            "tell": false
          },
          {
            "speaker": "Recruiter",
            "at": "week 4",
            "text": "Right. I should be straight with you: the approved budget for this req tops out at 74k. It was never in the posting.",
            "tell": true
          }
        ],
        "reading": "The mismatch existed on day one and surfaced in week four. Four rounds were spent on a gap that a published band would have shown immediately."
      }
    ],
    "non_inferences": [
      "Rejection does not mean candidate is overpriced for the market, only mismatched with this specific employer budget."
    ]
  }
}