<prompt> Human: Im asking this question about my specific situation, but to make this thread valuable to others as well, Id like people to mention any times when it might be allowable to reference a coworkers salary during your own negotiations.My situation:Ive worked for a Fortune 20 company for over 3 years now. I came in after an internship starting at 60k, and was told I was not able to negotiate that starting salary. After talking with some other interns who also came on full-time, I found that some of them started at over 70k. I met with an HR rep who explained that this was due to salary being based on degree types. People with Bachelor of Science degrees started at 70k, while those like myself with non-BS degrees started at 60k. I was annoyed about it, but it made somewhat sense.After my first year, I received a cost of living raise of around 1500, but during my second year of working here, I received some good news that upper management had done a review of salaries and in order to make mine more competitive, I would be getting a raise to 70k. This was in lieu of a cost of living raise.I have recently found out that the degree type rule has been gone away with, and now starting salaries are much more even across the board. I spoke with two individuals who came on this year from my exact same school, with my exact same degree type, and they both started at 74k!So now as I approach the end of my 3rd full year here, its time for me to begin the process of trying to secure a greater than COL raise. I believe my work has been very good this year, and I think my management agrees with that. The issue is, performance based raises are usually only around 6, which would only put me at about 74k, which is the same salary as a new hire! I want to try and negotiate for somewhere near 80k, not only because I think my work deserves that kind of compensation, but also because I feel disrespected making barely any more than a new hire.So, given that I received notice of this salary difference from an HR rep, and found out that the salary difference based on degree type is no longer being used from an HR rep as well, am I able to mention other employees salaries as a way to receive a larger raise for myself this year? Or do I still need to make this all about performance? Maybe Im wrong, but my situation just doesnt seem as black and white as most.TL;DR: Starting salary was based on a rule that is no longer in effect, and as a near 4 year employee, Im making the same as new hires. Can I use this as a negotiation point, or is that still not allowable?x200B;Edit: I should note, none of these new hires negotiated salaries either. So its not a situation of someone just negotiating better than me.  <response>: You shouldnt base your negotiationraise based on what someone else is making. 