Legal Question in Employment Law in California

I relocated from Arizona to california for a job in a law firm. After 6 months of work they told me that they felt I made too much money and I could either take a 3 dollar pay cut or I was fired. Is this legal? Where can i look up the information regarding this? I had not been written up on my job performance, there was no reason other then one of the partners didn't like me for reasons unknown to me.


Asked on 4/29/10, 10:21 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Michael Kirschbaum Law Offices of Michael R. Kirschbaum

Unless you have a contract that guarantees employment for a stated period of time, employment, including pay rates may be changed upon notice. Just as pay rates can increase, they can also decrease. Of course, pay decreases cannot be implemented for unlawful reasons, but that has not been addressed here.

Cal. Labor Code section 970 prohibits employers from knowingly making false representations about the terms of employment to induce an employee into moving from one state to another. The problem you would run in to, is trying to prove this employer had no intention of paying you the higher rate, at the time the job was offered. Since the cut happened 6 months later, proving misrepresentation would be very difficult to do.

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Answered on 5/04/10, 1:18 pm


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