Legal Question in Employment Law in Ohio
Salary reduction
Is it legal for a company to decrease an employees salary by 33% after 12 years of service for no legitimate reason. The reason given by the employer was that they could not afford to pay them that amount. This was the only employee affected. Employee is female whose salary was much less than any of the male employees of the same management level, which included all but one who had been employed much less than 12 years. This salary reduction also included being placed back on hourly pay.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Salary reduction
Employers generally can modify employees� compensation (there are a few exceptions). However, they are not permitted to discriminate in the payment of wages on the basis of gender. Equal pay is required among male and female employees for equal work, equal work meaning jobs which require equal skill, effort and responsibility and which are performed under similar working conditions. While the jobs do not have to be identical to constitute �equal work�, they do have to be substantially equal. Employers may use factors such as seniority, education, experience, and productivity/performance in determining rates of pay, however, those factors must be applied on a gender-neutral basis. In other words, pay differentials are permissible provided they can be justified by legitimate factors other than gender.
Also keep in mind that making you an hourly employee may now require the employer to pay you overtime for overtime hours worked. (at the rate of at least 1.5 the regular rate for hours worked in excess of 40 in a workweek).
If you have additional questions, please feel free to contact me at [email protected].
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