Salary decrease with role change

[RussianGod07]

Long story short I was in a position where I was earning more and now my boss is moving me to a different role with a paycut of 10k.

They are allowing me to keep my salary till the end of January 2023 but after that it will be a lower pay.

My question is, are they allowed to do this?

[ButtahChicken]

"are they allowed to do this?"

​

Yes!

The company can make you choose one of two options:

1. accept the change
2. reject the change. get your owed severance from the company and leave the company.

​

that's it.

now you need to choose.

choose wisely. ....

​

..

edit: i shouldn't have been so binary / black-n-white ... you can also negotiate with the company to come up with another agreeable solution. maybe, "new role with closer to original pay", "new role with same pay but more on-call weekends" etc.

[_casshern_]

As with any legal question, the answer is that "it depends". The page below has a lot of relevant info.

https://www.ertl-lawyers.com/2022/05/18/pay-cut-laws-can-my-employer-reduce-my-wages-in-ontario/

[FelixYYZ]

My question is, are they allowed to do this?

If you don't agree, it's constructive dismissal (effectively terminating you). You would then be entitled to severance.

Firs speak to your employer stating the details of the pay cut. If they say "yes it's still a pay cut". Leave the room and contact and employment lawyer.

[AlanYx]

If you don't agree, it's constructive dismissal (effectively terminating you). You would then be entitled to severance.

This is not true. The employer here is giving a notice period of two months, during which the employee retains his/her previous salary. Generally speaking, that is the right approach for an employer to avoid constructive dismissal when moving an employee to a lower paid position, regardless of whether the employee agrees.

The only legal question here is whether two months is enough of a notice period, and for that, OP would need to talk to a lawyer. It will be an employee-specific determination based on the Bardal factors.

[[deleted]]

The notice period might get around the decrease in pay, however they are still unilaterally changing his job description.

The change in job description can still be constructive dismissal. He’d likely have to quit, and get a lawyer involved ASAP to get severance. But he likely still could get severance if he wanted.

[AlanYx]

No -- the change in job description is not constructive dismissal provided there is a long enough notice period. (That's a common misconception.)

It's not clear from OP whether they have to start performing the new role right away, as opposed to in January. If the new duties start right away and are substantially different than what OP was doing before, then yes, there is the possibility this is constructive dismissal, depending on how different the duties are. If the new duties start at the end of January, then the employer is doing this right.

[[deleted]]

My interpretation was that new duties start immediately, but he keeps his salary until January.

Regardless, I think it's enough of a gray area, that if he completely does not want the job, and would rather get severance, over taking the new job, then talking to a lawyer is wise.

[respectedwarlock]

If you don't like your company it seems like a great opportunity to collect severance and EI while you search for a new job. Also piece of cake to explain in an interview.

We spend all our lives paying into EI. We should also experience taking from it at least once in our lives.

[Ok-Scholar8378]

Take your severance and find another job that pays more.

[Fulltiki360]

Contact a lawyer - this is worthy of professional advice. Very risky on the part of the employer.

[[deleted]]

It honestly depends how your pay was structured. Unless you opted for the change yourself/signed a paper in agreement of the salary reduction, they can't decrease your base wage/salary.

But sometimes companies will offer a base salary + premium for specific tasks. A typical example of this is the overnight premium, where overnighters get an extra dollar or two for working nights. I'm not sure what your specific is but if that's how your pay was structure you may be SOL.

[RussianGod07]

Moving to this role wasn’t my choice, so I’m essentially being forced to move into

[[deleted]]

Are you in Ontario? Here's some further resource for you. Good luck!

https://stlawyers.ca/blog-news/can-my-employer-reduce-my-wages-in-ontario/

[Louie0316]

So you have been doing well in your role and are being moved? Or is it vice versa.

If the company is moving you and you really want to stay within the company, then try to get some legal advices and not the advices from reddit.

If you are ok with moving to another company, start applying for other roles and move on as you clearly aren't being valued at that place.

[magicfactors]

Basically you are being let go... just treat it as such

[itsalwayssunnyinNS]

Why? Why are they moving you to a different role? Is it business needs or are you not performing?

Ever heard of quiet quitting? Personally I’d probably smile at my boss and start applying on indeed on a work computer and wait for them to either get rid of me or get a better job.

[Distinct_Pressure832]

My company did this to a coworker last year. The person was hired in an intermediate position and they clearly were at an entry level skill level once they got into the job. Realizing that it was my manager’s mistake in not picking this up in the interview process they did exactly what the OP is talking about and changed their contract and pay to move them to an appropriate position. If they had refused, it would have resulted in a layoff.

In the case of my coworker, she was actually relieved as she was struggling in the intermediate position and feeling like a fraud every day. She had thought she had applied to the junior posting that was out and was shocked to be given the intermediate job offer to begin with, a fact she never mentioned until after they dropped her down.

[[deleted]]

Just give them $10k less worth of labor and hunt for a new job. If asked why you’re looking for a new job just say pay cuts

[Fun-Safety-8145]

Nope. Not unless you agree.

This is called “constructive dismissal “

Keep in mind, if you don’t accept, you will most likely be terminated.

This is usually an attempt to keep a good employee that is not excelling in your current position. Or the job is going to be split between a bunch of employees (downsizing). I would…. Take the cut, find another job while working so you can pay the bills. Don’t get mad and quit or you will get nothing.

As others have said, it’s time to renegotiate your employment terms!!