Can they cut my pay?

[JnSgRay]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Kentucky
I was hired into my position in September last year with a signed contract stating my hourly wage and benefits agreement. I was never told nor is it anywhere in my one page contract that my wage could be lowered for any reason. The company decided to do assessment testing based on engineering. We are die maintenance technicians all of us only have a High School diploma or equivalent. Our pay is supposed to be based on experience and knowledge specific of the job. We were told that these tests were just to help see what we know. We do have classes we take but they are job specific and not what the testing was over and are optional, I choose to take them. The test was multiple choice a couple got lucky but almost all of us scored low on this test. Now there is talk that we will lose $5 on the hour based on this. We were never told about this on or before signing the contract. Can they do this? What can we do? We all have families with bills based on our income. Would they be breaching the contract if they do this?

 

[FlyingRon]

I can almost bet that what you have is just an offer letter and not a contract guaranteeing your wages will never change. As long as you're not reduced below minimum wage, your employer is free to lower or raise your salary. Your state does not require any notice prior to changing your wages. To be sure you can take the thing you think is a contract to a lawyer and let him give a read on it.

 

[cbg]

We haven't read the contract, assuming that it actually is one, to know that. The first step is to determine if it really is a contract, which can only be done by having an attorney in your state review it. Keep in mind that many, many people mistake an offer letter or an employment agreement as being contracts when they are not.

If it is a contract, the attorney will be able to tell you what your next step is. If it is not, all I can tell you is that nothing in the law prohibits an employer from cutting pay as long as it does not go below the higher of state or Federal minimum wage and time and a half for any hours over 40.

 

[JnSgRay]

I can almost bet that what you have is just an offer letter and not a contract guaranteeing your wages will never change. As long as you're not reduced below minimum wage, your employer is free to lower or raise your salary. Your state does not require any notice prior to changing your wages. To be sure you can take the thing you think is a contract to a lawyer and let him give a read on it.

We will do just that but before I was hired in I had to go to a meeting to negotiate my wage and benefits and sign the contract even if it is only one page

 

[cbg]

That does not change the answers.