This morning I received an email from my boss, be-rating my performance and telling me that in 9 days they were going to be cutting my salary from 48,000 to 18,000 and a 2 percent commission on current repeat business, and he mentioned in the email that hopefully this would motivate me to do more. This is effective going from 22 per hour down to 9 dollars an hour. I can't live on such. When I asked him about it over the phone, he told me that this was final, and that the very best they could do for me (I got this in email as well) was to perhaps come up with some sort of draw for 2 months to help me transition. I am at AT WILL employee, and I have been with the company since 2006. Based on my current volume of sales (I'm more a marketing employee) the commission would only equal about an addition 10,000 per year. I have been given till Monday to decide if I am to accept or quit, he says. Can he do this? And also in the State Of Michigan, can I quit and go and file for unemployment?

They are not firing you, only cutting your pay, so no if you quit you will not get unemployment, since you are not unemployed.

You accept it and look for another job, don't really have much other choice, They may cut your pay if they want.

Yes they can cut your pay, but I think you will still get unemployment if you quit. If a company changes your job substantially, and this certainly qualifies, you can quit and still get unemployment.

I would double check that with the state Dept of Labor.

You may want to call and ask, seldom do Scott and I disagree to such opposite ends.
In Georgia you have to be available and willing to work to get unemployment, and not refuse a job. Since this is a job, refusal of it, in Georgia anyway, to me,

In the state of Michigan, you can actually get unemployment if you quit as long as you can prove you had a valid reason for quiting. No one kinds it valid that I have to take a 30,000 dollar pay cut. You would stay on the job?

I would till I got another job, rent has to be paid, family has to eat,

I think in any state you would qualify for unemployment because of the substantial difference in the job. But quitting means that you have to apply and wait for the employer to respond with a chance to defend themselves against it, which they might or might not do. I think I would be forthright about applying and ask your employer what they will do. Each person who collects UI adds to their future costs.

(If I were you I would take the transitional offer and the new rate, hustle those commissions, and work your way back to a higher base pay. I might even try to work out a pay raise contingency plan now. I hope you realize that the job market is still pretty bad.)