AnotherUser297 t1_j572qfd wrote on January 20, 2023 at 9:18 PM

Nope.

There was actually just a news story of a home care agency in Montco doing something similar. They owe their employees a lot of money.

the story is here

CltAltAcctDel t1_j59o1hf wrote on January 21, 2023 at 11:52 AM

> To avoid paying employees proper overtime, employers lowered the rate of pay for employees in weeks in which they worked more than 40 hours

That’s different than reducing their base pay across the board.

An employer can reduce your pay. What OP is describing sounds legal. Shitty, but legal

AnotherUser297 t1_j59t5kr wrote on January 21, 2023 at 12:51 PM

Correct, which is why I said it was similar. The employer is changing hours or pay to avoid paying overtime. Overtime is required for hourly workers, and messing with hours and changing pay is shitty at best and illegal at worst.

CltAltAcctDel t1_j59xpwh wrote on January 21, 2023 at 1:36 PM

But you answered the OP’s question with a definite nope and used that link to support your position.

Your link and OP’s situation are different. The company in the article was intentionally fluctuating wages based on employee hours to avoid paying OT. The base wage of the employees was entirely contingent on hours worked. More hour equaled lower hourly rate.

OP’s employer is permanently reducing wages. OP’s hourly rate will be the same regardless of hours work. An employer can legally reduce your wages; no law against that. The adding of mandatory OT puts it in a legal grey area. However, the employer is still calculating OT off of a static hourly wage so may be in compliance with the law.

AnotherUser297 t1_j5a25bp wrote on January 21, 2023 at 2:14 PM

OP’s employer is requesting a change in contract to avoid overtime. Employer said they can’t pay overtime, but really they don’t want to. Messing with overtime in any way is shady and worth pursuing legally. They want the OP to work more than 40 hours for the same money.

hellorubydoo OP t1_j58zqoq wrote on January 21, 2023 at 6:28 AM

Holy crap.

bbm182 t1_j59ce4z wrote on January 21, 2023 at 9:13 AM

The difference there is that they only reduced pay in weeks where overtime was required to be paid (likely retroactively as well) and went back to the normal rate in other weeks. You seem to be talking about a one time, permanent pay cut that will apply even if you don't work overtime in a particular week for some reason. That is likely perfectly legal.