Legal Question in Business Law in Pennsylvania

It all depends if you have this agreement in writing. If you just have your bosses oral promise to pay you, then it is unlikely that you can leave and still recover the money. Also, yuo say he promised to pay you and the other workers the back pay, "upon the business growing". This is pretty ambiguous, because it really doesn't say how much the business has to grow.

What you are entitled to do, however, is file a claim for Unemployment Benefits for the reduction in your pay. Your boss won't like this, and maybe you'll get fired, in which case you'll be entitled to full benefits. Also, the benefits payable on 30% of the back pay is not going to add up to a lot, but still, your entitled to it.

Otherwise, if your salary reduction and the promise to pay you when the business grows, is not in writing, with the terms of the deal specifically set forth , if you leave, you will probably have a difficult time collecting the back pay. The only other possibility is to file a complaint under the PA Wage Payment and Collection Law (http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt?open=514&objID=553002&mode=2). The Complaint form can be found at :

http://www.friendsfw.org/Worker/Wage_Payment_Claim.pdf

Good luck and I hope this was helpful to you.