Is what my employer doing illegal?

quizzard123

A 30% pay cut is still paying you more than unemployment. You should be happy that they made that offer.

Dropping wages (or any other major change to employment conditions)is considered 'constructive dismissal', so you can in all likelihood collect unemployment. It's the same as being fired without cause.

So the answer is that he can't drop wages to avoid unemployment charges. He's not doing it for that reason, he's doing it in an effort to keep your ungrateful butt on the payroll.

California in particular is an "at will" employment state. As long as the cuts are across the board and not based on identifiable special groups (ethnicity, gender, etc.) it is perfectly legal.

Lincoln freed the slaves -- if you don't like the deal, go work somewhere else. There is no Constitutional Right to pay you what you want, no matter what liberals tell you.

ROCK

No, it's not illegal. I also work in Ca. and yes, it is an "at will" state. He could have laid off as many as needed to keep the company going. Instead, he made an across the board pay cut, keeping everyone working. I'll bet that's more money than unemployment.
If you don't like it, you can file a complaint with the state labor board but from what you described, i doubt that it will go anywhere.

aestas100

There are no jobs out there. I think that what the CEO is doing is compassionate, indicative of strong leadership and I hope that many respond as team players. I would expect that a CEO who takes this approach will look to reward those who help the company pull through.

You are putting forward that his motives are to avoid paying unemployment. How do you know this? Are you sure that he is not trying to protect his employees and maintain an experienced employee base for the company?

Have you confirmed that if you quit you would not be able to get unemployment? With a proposed pay drop of this size, I am not sure that this is true.

And the competitive market will keep the CEO from dropping wages to minimum wage - as long as there are job alternatives for employees. It is called the free market.

livin life

The real question is do u want a job or not? If u do, take the pay cut, if not quit. He is trying to keep a business going, and if he gets all his people to love a bit more frugal and take the pay cut, he may make it thru this bad times.But if not he may close the company all together. I bet if u got rid of cable TV and spent $25 less a week u would be just fine.

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