You were hoping to get a raise the longer you continued working at your current company, but unfortunately, the opposite happened. Your employer came to you and said that they were going to have to cut your pay.
You do understand that you could choose to leave your job and find a new one with a higher rate of pay. But you may also find yourself wondering if what your employer is doing is even legal. Do they have to keep paying you the amount they promised when they hired you, or can they reduce your pay?
Reducing future payments
As a general rule, it is legal for an employer to reduce pay as long as it only applies to the future. They can’t reduce your pay retroactively for hours that you already worked, which would be unfair to you and a form of wage theft. But they can tell you that, going forward, you are going to earn less than you previously did.
Of course, even your reduced rate has to be legal. They can’t cut your pay below minimum wage, for example.
Additionally, your employer can’t cut your pay for an illegal reason. For instance, perhaps you recently reported sexual harassment on the job. Is the pay cut a form of retaliation? Or maybe you just joined a new religion. Did your boss find out, and is the pay cut a form of religious discrimination? In these types of situations, the reduction would still be illegal, even if it was above minimum wage and only applied to the future.
Situations like this can get very complicated, so it is important to understand all of your rights as an employee and the legal steps you can take.