I left my previous job for a better paying job. After starting the new job I realized they didn’t have a lot of work. I have days of no work at all. It’s my third week and now they have told me they are changing my position and paying me less than I was making at my previous job. What are my rights? I cannot afford to take a pay cut, I only went with them because the pay was $3 higher than my previous job and they promised overtime.
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3We will need some hint to where you are located to provide meaningful guidance.– Gregory CurrieCommented Feb 16 at 1:45
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5"What are my rights?" depends a lot on what your contract says and what your local labor laws are, so please add details of your contract and a location tag. Legal questions are generally a better fit for law.stackexchange.com and if your details are complicated your best shot might be to talk to a local labor lawyer or advocate/support group.– HilmarCommented Feb 16 at 1:47
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3 Answers
It's unlikely that your employer can unilaterally reduce you pay, however, it is likely, if there is a legitimate business need, that they are able to give you what is basically an ultimatum of being made redundant, or accepting different conditions.
Without knowing specifics, you would have to look at a combination of what your contract says, and prevailing employment law in your jurisdiction.
answered Feb 16 at 1:51
If you are talking about a job with dynamically assigned hours and hourly pay, such as restaurant staff, they may not be able to cut your hourly pay but, unless your contract says otherwise, they can indeed cut your hours.
Barring an explicit clause in the contract, or a strong union willing to make a stink about it, nothing compels a company to have people work overtime. If they aren't busy enough to justify that, overtime simply won't exist. And nothing compels a company to assign overtime to specific people, other than contract, particular desire to keep that employee, or threat of collective action.
Your best bet here may be to start job hunting again, and this time make sure anything they promise you is in writing.
In Europe definitely something like this would not be allowed. But since you mention dollars I guess you are based in the US or Canada.
I am not familiar with the American legislation, but I think that first of all you should try to find out if the same thing happened to other present or past employees. If it is a recurring pattern than it could be considered a fraud. After all they convinced you to resign from the old job with the promises they made.
