QUESTION
Would a wage reduction, performance bonus reduction and/or pay grade reduction be considered retaliation if done after questioning exempt status?
Asked on Nov 14th, 2014 on Labor and Employment - Pennsylvania
More details to this question:
I have been doing the same job for 10 years. I recently questioned my status as exempt with my employer. They thanked me for bringing it to their attention and said that they are going to investigate it. They said if I was correct and they had me misclassified as exempt, changing me to non-exempt would have negative consequences for me. They said that I would have to take a pay cut as well as a reduction in a yearly performance bonus. They said that my salary converted to a hourly pay would be higher than the range of pay that the company allows for non-exempt hourly employees. They said they would have to lower my job class grade from 50 to 40 (they said job class grade 40 is highest grade that is non-exempt) With doing so the yearly performance bonus for that grade is 5% less than grade 50. Changing to non-exempt would not change my duties. I feel they trying to scare me so I will say I want to stay exempt. If they change me, there are 30 other people that would need changed.
1 ANSWER
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Yes, that might very well be retaliation. However, a bigger issue might be the misclassification for however long its persisted and the results of that for you. You might've been entitled to overtime pay and other benefits. That being said, corrections to misclassifications can have unintended results for both the employer and employee. I'd strongly recommend that you seek the advice of experienced employment law attorney for further review of your case. These types of claims are generally very fact-specific. No matter whether you seek counsel or deal with it on your own, the question only you can ask is "what are you prepared to do about it?"
Answered on Nov 17th, 2014 at 11:21 AM