I was promised a raise last month, now the company says they're not giving raises. Is that legal?

Steve D

Unless you have a piece of paper that says that you are getting a raise, until the raise actually comes through, nothing is finalized. One could assume that your company is having profit or cash-flow problems and needs to limit costs and hence the elimination of raises.

In addition to eliminating the raise, the company can also scale back your wages if it so desires. As long as your wage does not fall below the minimum, and absent a contract, the company can pay whatever it wants and you can walk out the door.

imisidro

Be thankful that you still got a job and not firing you. There are so many layoffs nowadays with the recession, and many companies simply defer raise increases as a means to help the company stay afloat.

Yes, it is perfectly legal. The law does not say that people should get raises regularly. Or if promised a raise, the boss cannot back out.

It's the economy.

Mrs. SDB

I had my annual evaluation and was told I'd be getting a 75 cent raise.. a month later I was laid off. So if I were you I'd just be happy to still have a job whether you get the raise or not. If you don't have a paper signed by your boss stating you'd get the raise at a certain time or anything of that matter, there's nothing you can do. If they aren't giving raises they may be having some hard times with the economy as well so if they wanted to they can actually decrease your salary to as low as minimum wage. If I were you, I'd just be happy to have a job and continue doing it to the best of your ability so you can keep the money you are making.

Fauna

It happens. My promised raise has gotten delayed and possibly (hopefully not) forgotten. In this economy, I guess we workers suffer the most as far as the businesses making cuts, but be thankful you still have a job, right.

Shane

UGH! Be happy you even have a job. Nothing illegal about what happened. Your only option is to quit.

Simon M

Depends on whether it was a written statement or just a verbal comment. And then, even if it was a written statement it depends exactly how it was written.

If the company stated that you were contractually entitled to a 3.5% pay rise, then legally they need to do it. If they simply said something along the lines of "the intention is to give you a 3.5% pay rise" then they can easily come back later and say "it was the intention, but things have changed".

Most contracts will actually say something like "You will be paid at the rate of xxxxx, or such higher rate as the company may determine from time to time". In other words, as long as you're not paid less than you were contracted to be paid, they are not in breach.

Bighead

To all of you that is saying saying get use to it that stuff happens, you guys don't know how it feels when u see other people doing the same work as u do are making more and I'm dealing with that situation now. It was 3 years since I last had raise before I transferred to another location but the same company and then started getting raises. My fellow employees here are making 3-4 dollars more than me and I have been asking them for an explanation but they said they did nothing wrong. After I had pressured them to send documents why they did not pay me and some 20 other people. Now the documents that reflected my new pay rate and when it will kick in was signed by both me and my employer, I only knew they did not give me the raise from my paystubs

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