Having pay lowered without notice?

[thstorm87]

hi, I have a question. I work in a suburb of philadelphia, and I have been employed at my job for over 6 years. I work as a computer tech. I have been required to do some traveling, and be on call once every 3-4 weeks. I have been making a salary. I recently starting going to night school, to further my career in computers. I told my boss about school a month before it started, and he said it would not be a problem. Then the other day he calls me in his office and says he may have to put me on hourly pay because of school, I said no problem, but how much per hour. He said he wasnt sure he would have to let me know. Well on friday I got back to my office around 4pm, and found out my boss had left for the weekend to goto the mountains, and just left my check on his desk. I opened it, and he went and lowerd my pay considerbly on his own without telling me. He lowered my pay around $100 per week. Is this legal?

thanks,
david

 

[Beth3]

No. While an employer is free to reduce an employee's pay (as long as it does not go below minimum wage), an employee must be specifically notified as to their new rate of pay before performing any work at the reduced rate.

And while this isn't your question, I suspect there are also issues regarding whether you should have been paid on a salaried basis to begin with (i.e. not pay for your overtime) and if you were properly classified as exempt, whether it was legal for your employer to change your status to non-exempt (hourly) for this reason.

I suggest you contact your State's Department of Labor/wage and hour division and discuss your entire situation.

 

[krispenstpeter]

$100 A WEEK????

Hell, I don't even drag my ass out of bed for less than $100 AN HOUR!!!

 

[cbg]

Krispy, his pay was lowered BY $100 a week, not TO $100 a week.