Legal Question in Employment Law in California

Legal? Of course. Review your written contracts and agreements to determine what 'rights' if any you have regarding compensation, and whether they have breached any of the contract terms regarding compensation.

In general, the employer is entitled to set and change hours, duties, titles, compensation, benefits, leaves, vacations, holidays, policies, rules, etc. just not retroactively. Promises of possible promotion or raises are merely incentives to get employees to work hard, not enforceable contracts. In general, unless an employee is civil service, in a union, or has a written employment contract, they are an 'at will' employee that can be disciplined or fired any time for any reason, with or without �cause�, explanation or notice, other than for illegal discrimination, harassment or retaliation under the ADA disability, Civil Rights [age, race, sex, ethnic, religion, pregnancy, etc], Whistle-blower, or similar statutes. The employee's goal should be to keep the employer happy.