Can an employer cut salaried employes pay $10,000 a year with no consent?

Unless your wife has a contract providing otherwise, her employer is free to reduce her salary without her consent (and she is free to quit. She might even get unemployment compensation after quitting since the pay reduction is so significant. However you need to check with a Missouri attorney on this point. On the other hand, if the motive for lowering her salary is to force her to quit because of her age or gender, then the employer's decision can be attacked as unlawfully discriminatory. You cannot win an equal pay act case unless you can show that the company is paying a male employee who performs the same duties as she performs in the same working conditions at the same location more than it is paying her. In fact, you have to be able to eliminate every legitimate explanation other than her gender as a reason for the pay difference. The fact that it is increasing the pay of male estimators while reducing her pay does not show unlawful discrimination unless she also is an estimator.  Michael Caldwell 404-979-3150