[helpme1960]

My husband has been with a company for 7 years. This company reduced everyone's salary by $2 an hour. Now they are withholding vaction. My husband had work his way up to 3 weeks per year. Now they are telling him he will not qualify for vacation(now back to 1 week)until his anniversary date which is, 12/1/11. I just want to know is this fair business practice?

[ballengerb1]

Does he or a union have a contract? If he is not working under a contract the employer can change salary, hourly wages and benefits which include vacation. Vacation is not a right by law, simply a benefit. Times are hard all over and many folks are facing similar issues or worse, lay-offs.

[ScottGem]

As long as the rules for vacation are applied without discrimination it is likely legal. But if he already had accrued benefits they can't take that away.

[Fr_Chuck]

A company may lower pay, take away benefits and more anytime they want, unless there is a union contract and some benefits that are under certain plans. * those can only be stopped once a year.

But yes, they may change rules and pay if they want.

[twinkiedooter]

These days companies are doing all sorts of "creative" things to keep their employees on the job and the doors to their companies open. Be thankful your husband still has a job in these hard times.

And yes, the company can rearrange benefits, take away benefits, lower hourly wages and do just about anything they want to unless they have a written contract with the employee.

I work customer service at my job and talk to a lot of people every week. Some people I've spoken to were either laid off even after working for the same company for well over 20 years and never called back. Some companies just closed their doors unexpectedly and threw all the employees under the bus.