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I have a position that I am happy with and I excel at. All my evaluations are excellent. I have been with the company for 13 years.

Recently they have asked me to take a promotion to management.

I explained that I have no interest in that position. I would be extremely unhappy in management and I know this from experience.

They said if I don’t take the promotion they will demote me and cut my pay. They are stating that the position I am in is a gateway to management and I cannot just stay at this level.

This was never told to me when I took the job 2 years ago. I also have seen many people promoted to management that have never held my current position.

I am an hourly employee as licensed radiographer in the state of Texas, USA.

I do not wish to go into management. I have a career being hands on.

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We are not lawyers. Get a lawyer for legal advice.

In the US, without an explict contract most work is "At Will". Meaning that with certain exceptions for race, etc. you can be fired, demoted, etc. as long as the employer doesn't retroactively change your pay.

It isn't nice that the employer now says that value you less. They stated their case in a logical way. It would be nice if they kept your pay the same.

The ball is in your court. It is your choice to accept the new job (pay and duties) or not.

How much to you like the working at the company versus the disruption of a finding a new job is up to you.

Good luck.

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    If you do have a contract, it may address this. If it doesn't, this answer still holds.
    – keshlam
    Commented Jun 12 at 15:10
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Most US states (including Texas) are at-will states. As such yes you can be demoted or ask to take a pay cut to continue employment.

However... there are exceptions to this. In the case of Texas it is one of the states that has the 'public-policy exemption'. So in addition to the general protected categories like race, gender, etc. if the cause for this was:

  • You are a whistleblower
  • You refused to act against the law
  • You were practicing a statutory right (things like worker's comp)
  • You were performing a public duty (jury duty, voting, etc.)

Then it becomes a hard no, and if they do it anyways then you document everything for an eventual lawsuit against the company.

Some businesses have additional exceptions (like retaliation), but you will have to check with your employee handbook for what those would be.

Now with all that said... for your case specifically I recommend you check with other leadership in the company to see if this is normal. It is possible that things are not as they appear; for example your manager might want someone else in your position (think favoritism, nepotism, affair, etc.) and thus are abusing their power to get you out of the way.

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    Technically you can't be unilaterally demoted even in an at will state without your agreement. But companies force people to agree using the threat of firing. It often amounts to the same thing but there is a legal difference. Also remember that even in an at will state the OP may have an employment contract that prevents "at will" termination.
    – DJClayworth
    Commented Jun 12 at 16:58
  • Checking the employee handbook should come after polishing up the resume. One sheet of paper can overrule the whole book.
    – Happy Idiot
    Commented Jun 13 at 11:12
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Can they do this

Well - the answer depends on region and what your contract says.

As a general rule, you can decline to sign a new contract - but then that would result in your role being disestablished or any other N ways of administratively removing you.

Now, in NZ - if you decline to sign the new contract and you get fired - that can be grounds for Unjustified Disadvantage - and you could have a case, however there are a number of factors that are applicable and it would need a legal opinion specific to the particulars of your circumstances.

You can discuss this with your work, however

If your company has given you the ultimatum (move to management or get demoted) - I would respond in kind by tendering my resignation and looking elsewhere

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    In the US: Look elsewhere first, while you still have income (even if it isn't as much as you'd like). Tender your resignation only after you have a signed piece of paper saying when you will start work in the new company, where, and at what salary. Caveat: this specifically may not apply in India; I do not grok their system.
    – keshlam
    Commented Jun 12 at 0:07
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    @keshlam - Fair point - that is normally what I mean - look for another job and then once you have it, hand in your resignation
    – TheDemonLord
    Commented Jun 12 at 0:17
  • For what it's worth, my employer realized they were losing folks with a technical focus and set up a full engineering track so folks who didn't want to people-manage didn't have to. I'm still a bit grumpy about having been encouraged to retire not long before I might have hit the next-to-final job ranking. (The final one, Band 10, is nearly impossible to achieve unless you've been filing invention disclosures pretty much continuously through your career and an executive needs you in particular to advise them on something.)
    – keshlam
    Commented Jun 12 at 2:02
  • @keshlam Having a firm offer (in writing, signed, with all the details) before resigning is very good advice in the UK as well — and probably many other places.  It's surprising (and unfair) just how less willing people are to consider you for a job the moment you've left a previous one; and dwindling resources make you much more likely to accept a position you'll regret.
    – gidds
    Commented Jun 12 at 17:30
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    heh... plata o plomo is not so literal. It's a spanish phrase that basically means "either pay or die"... as in lead (plomo) being used on bullets, and silver (plata) as valuable currency... it goes back to El Chapo time.... I think the word "ultimatum" explains itself well already
    – DarkCygnus ♦
    Commented Jun 12 at 17:53
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You are in a "at will" state so yes they can do this. Its stupid, and bad management but that is health care. Providers and customers are being squeezed so the business types can make larger bonuses.

It seems you are very employable. So it may be time to move on. Depending on how much you like this job and manager is how strong you can come back at them. "If my pay is cut to X, I might be forced to look for other work. Is that something you want?"

And often times it is despite how counter productive it is to the organization and their immediate management duties.

It sucks, but your manager is being told to do this by someone else, and that person simply does not care about you.

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  • "Its stupid, and bad management but that is health care" - I sometimes wonder about the planet I ended up on. Taking the story to the News might do some damage to the company, and either get it to fail or cause them to change their tune (to a higher register) and thus save a lot of other people trouble later on.
    – Happy Idiot
    Commented Jun 13 at 11:09
  • @HappyIdiot the news is bought and paid for by such business. The health care systems locally advertise enough that publishing negative articles about their management will decrease their revenue or lead to the firing of the editor and reporter.
    – Pete B.
    Commented Jun 13 at 12:35

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