Can Your Boss Legally Cut Hours Without Notice?

An employer’s decision to reduce your pay or work hours can result in serious financial stress for you and your family. “For an employer to call you up at the last minute and cancel a shift or add another one—and that if you don’t show up, you get fired—puts employees in an untenable position where they’re having to balance their livelihood against other responsibilities in their life,” says Eric Kingsley, an employment law attorney in Encino, California.

If you’re put in such a position, you may wonder if the hour or pay reduction is legal. Generally, it is. Because of at-will employment, employers can take any adverse action against an employee they want, and that includes cutting employee hours or pay. But there are important limits. Employers can’t break an employment contract with you. They can’t cut your pay for illegal reasons, such as discrimination or retaliation. They can’t reduce your pay under minimum wage. And they can’t retroactively cut wages you’ve already earned—that’s wage theft.

Employers can cut your future wages, but they must inform you of cuts ahead of time so you can decide whether to continue working for them at the new rates or seek a new position. Given the financial stakes of a pay cut, “It seems to make a lot of sense from a public policy standpoint to require some advance warning,” says Kingsley. While some states set specific timeframes for prior notice, many simply require employers to give “reasonable” notice.

This article will explain some of the important laws that employers must follow when changing employees’ pay or hours. Understanding wage and hour laws is essential for both employers and employees to avoid disputes and defend their legal rights. Employees who think their rights have been violated should seek legal advice as soon as possible.

Employers Can’t Reduce Your Pay in Violation of an Employment Contract

If you have an employment contract, it may protect you from wage or hour cuts during your term of employment or set notice requirements for any work schedule changes. If your employer violates the contract terms by taking any adverse employment action against you—including firing, furloughs, or pay reductions—you may have a breach of contract claim.

If you’re under a union contract, also called a collective bargaining agreement (CBA), the employer would need to renegotiate the CBA with union representatives to reduce wages unless the CBA already gives them the power to make pay cuts. If the employer violates the CBA’s terms, there is typically a review process within the company to settle disputes. If internal procedures do not solve the issue, employees can take legal action against the breach of contract.

Employers Can’t Reduce Your Pay for Discriminatory or Retaliatory Reasons

Employers cannot take adverse employment actions against you for reasons that violate the law. Adverse employment actions include getting fired, demoted, or having your hours or pay reduced. Illegal reasons include discrimination, retaliation for engaging in protected activities (such as filing a complaint over unsafe working conditions or taking protected medical leave), tor blowing the whistle on the company’s illegal activity.

Employers Can’t Reduce Your Pay Below Minimum Wage

Employers cannot cut pay to a level beneath the state or federal minimum wage or overtime requirements.

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is a federal law that, among other things, sets requirements for minimum wage and overtime pay for non-exempt employees (the term “non-exempt” simply means the employee is not exempt from the FLSA’s provisions).

Under the FLSA, employers must pay their workers at least the federal minimum wage, currently $7.25/hour. In states with minimum wage rates above the federal requirement, employers must pay the higher rate in accordance with state law. Additionally, employees are entitled to overtime pay for every hour they work over 40 hours per week. Overtime pay is 1.5 times your regular rate of pay.

Employers Can’t Make Day-to-Day or Week-to-Week Cuts to an Exempt Employee’s Predetermined Salary

Employees are exempt if FLSA minimum wage or overtime requirements don’t apply to them. Employees in executive, administrative, or professional roles are exempt from both minimum wage and overtime standards if they meet the following requirements:

• They are paid on a salary basis;
• They are paid at least $884 per workweek (as of July 1, 2024);
• They perform exempt job duties, such as managing or directing others (executive), non-manual labor related to general business operations (administrative), or tasks requiring advanced knowledge or skill (professional).

The salary requirement means employees are paid a fixed pay rate regardless of the number of hours worked. So, even if the salaried employee’s hours are cut, they have to get paid the same amount. However, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has said that employers can reduce exempt employees’ salaries if the reduction is permanent, reflecting the business’s long-term needs. The pay cut must not exceed the exempt employee salary requirement of $884/week. If it does, the exempt employee becomes non-exempt and is subject to minimum wage and overtime requirements.

Employers Must Provide Advance Notice of Plant Closings and Layoffs

The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act is a federal law that requires companies with 100 or more employees to give employees 60 days’ notice of plant closings or mass layoffs. Employment loss includes a 50 percent reduction in an employee’s work hours for each month in a 6-month period.

How Much Advance Notice Must You Get?

A few states, including Alaska and Missouri, set specific notice timeframes, ranging from 24 hours to 30 days. North Carolina requires employers to notify employees in writing at least one pay period in advance of a wage change or reduction. However, most states don’t set specific timeframes and simply require employers to give employees reasonable advance notice. Employers in these states should provide as much advance notice as possible to comply with the law and avoid an employment dispute.

If your employer cut your pay or hours without notice, they may have violated your state’s laws regarding advanced notice. A wage and hour attorney in your area can give you the best advice about state law and strategies for bringing a claim.

When Should You Seek Legal Help for Wage and Hour Cuts?

Should you pursue legal action against your employer for reduced hours? Kingsley gives practical insight on this question: “Wage and hour statutes generally refer to ‘an adverse employment action.’ While that includes things like pay cuts, most attorneys aren’t taking a case unless it’s a wrongful termination. However, if the adverse employment action is a big demotion or cut in what an employee is paid, that might be a viable claim. If it’s a case of someone who was working six hours per day and is now working five hours a day, that’s technically a demotion and could theoretically be pursued as a claim. But from a practical perspective, it will be challenging to get a lawyer to take that case unless the damages are really significant.”

Because the viability of a legal claim is highly fact-dependent, it’s advisable to speak with an employment law attorney for legal advice. Many attorneys provide free initial consultations to prospective clients. These consultations allow the attorney to hear the facts of your case and for you to determine if the attorney meets your needs.

Find an Experienced Attorney

Visit the Super Lawyers directory to find an experienced wage and hour attorney in your area. For more information on this area of law, see our overviews of wage and hour law and wrongful termination law.