Can an employee who is on a salary payroll be moved to an hourly wage without prior notice? My mother was diagnosed with cancer and she has been out of work for about a week or so. She was told this week that she was moved to an hourly wage and that if she doesn't make the required amount of hours to be considered over time that she would lose her medical benefits. Is this allowed?

Usually, yes. Any employee not under contract is considered "at will". This means the employer can change the terms of the relationship at any time without notice.

However, having said this, she may have a claim for discrimination based on disability. Family leave laws apply if she has to undergo a long term absence.

One radio station I worked at moved me from a managerial position, which was a day shift on salary, to an overnight position at 1/4 the earnings I hired in at. They did this a week after I told them I was pregnant and without notice. (Midnights was a position we were working to eliminate through automation.. the writing was on the wall.) Additionally, they would not let me do paid appearances for the station, which meant that I lost roughly an additional thousand to two thousand a month in additional earnings. I sued, and they settled... but they tried every trick in the book, too many to list here and too underhanded to even begin to believe, to get me to quit so I would not have a case.

My attorney stressed the importance to keeping a journal, documenting everything I saw, heard, felt and suspected in the course of every shift. I did not communicate with my employer unless it was in writing, and accepted nothing from them that wasn't signed. I sued on the basis of discrimination due to disability and sexual discrimination. The day I got my settlement check they let me go, which was just fine with me. They have not hired a female full time there since. I am not the type to sue over anything, but this was so blatent, I did it on principal.

I strongly advise you to contact a labor attorney on your mom's behalf immediately, and to make sure that this attorney is actively interested her case, is accessible to and contacts her regularly. She has to be very proactive in her case, and she must not do anything to jeopardize the work the attorney does behind the scenes.

This is a chess game, plain and simple, and she has to think three steps ahead of these schmucks at every turn... even over the littlest things. She cannot be afraid to say I will not sign this until my attorney sees this, I will not do this until I have spoken with my attorney, etc. Let the attorney be the bad guy. She must make every effort to bend over backwards for her employer in all other regards... because if it goes to a jury, you want them seeing her as the victim she is. (A jury can be quite fickle.. even if you have a case, if you appear to be even a little wicked or bent out of shape, it can effect your verdict, or, even if the jury thinks you have a case and verdicts in your favor, it could effect your award).

A labor attorney under these circumstances should only work for 1/3 of the award... which means you pay nothing until the case is settled. Mine said I did all my own work and only charged me 200 bucks... he said they made him mad. You won't likely find a guy like this, but I advise you to get someone anyway.

Find someone who is a former corporate headhunter and who has a lot of experience.

Lastly, and yet, of utmost importance:
Tell her not to fall victim to the emotional blackmail and peer pressure she will inevitably feel during this time. She has enough on her plate, and it's just part of the chess game. Tell her not to discuss anything with any employee, even most trusted friends, and to remember that her livelihood and benefits depend on her ability to stay focused and calm about the whole thing. In the long run, patience and prudence will win out, but they will do everything they can to provoke her... even the smallest little things.

I wish you luck! Please PM me and let me know that you have contacted and attorney and filed the paperwork with your state for her case.

As an employer now, I can tell you that she has far more rights than she thinks she does.

Take care.

Sadly normally they can, if they move everyone in the same position from salary to hourly. So if there are other people who are on salary they will also have to be changed, an entire job class has to be changed.

Now with that said they can also just re=assign her to another job that is hourly.

And yes, normally anyone who is hourly that does not work normally 30 hours a week on a regular basis ( not just miss it one week) can be also dropped to a part time status, and lose benefits.

As for as the FMLA ( leave act) this is unpaid time off, and she can keep benefits but will have to pay full amount for them.

Also discrimination is a tricky thing, just illness is not discrimination, it has to be something that is not temporary but something she will most likely never get better from, and next it has to effect a list of specific body and life funtions. Before it can be considered legal discrimination.

A attorney is about your only chance, not that I believe you have a real case, but often a company will just give in instead of fighting it in court

I think she does have a case. But to pursue this she will need a lawyer. So let her shop around and they can tell her better than we can whether she has a case or not.

I think I should clarify: I believe she has a case because she has a dehabilitating illness that affects her, and must be accommodated. ( IE doc appts, fatigue, etc.) If it can be reasonably inferred that her status has been changed as a result of disability, she absolutely has a case. If she has been retaliated against because she filed a claim, she has ADDITIONAL case.

This is why it is so vital that she file a claim immediately. There are no reprocussions for her if she fails to win the case.. because if they retailiate (fire her or lessen her hours) because she filed a discrimination case, even if she lost, she still has a case for retaliation. So getting this documentation is vital to keep her benefits. Your employer is less likely to do ANYTHING to make your job harder if he's staring at that retaliation case.

Again. This is chess. Three steps ahead. She's working at ensuring her benefits.

Another thing is the size of the company, since most ADA laws effect only things with 15 or more employees or those in interstate commerce.

I would like to thank you all that answered my question. It means a lot to me that there are people still in the world that are willing to help others out. Especially ones who take the time to write a book in response... =) Must have taken a good 20 minutes or so. I thank you all for your input. My mom's previous employers were the ones that got her that job. She called them to ask about her situation and they jumped all over it. She is to meet with a lawyer that her previous employer has gotten for her. They advised her to not return to work until she has spoken with him/her. I sure hope she's able to get somewhere with this. Once again, I thank you all for the time you've invested in answering my question, wish there was a way to repay you.

Keith

You can repay folks by paying it forward.. help someone else out sometime...

And for me it's not writing a book... I'm a writer... so when I slam a redbull and get to typing, it tends to crank out pretty quickly:D