they reduced my wage...is that legal?

[cali97girl]

In mid-January of this year, I was homebound for 2 months due to my work injury and as I was medically released to return to work half-time, I noticed that my paychecks were lacking more than I expected. The company reduced my hourly wage by $2.00 in addition to removing my lead position simply because I was not there and could not perform my usual job duties. I do understand the need to temporarily fill the lead position until I can return to work full-time, but is it really legal to reduce my wage when it wasn't my fault? Please help me to understand this. I haven't spoken to H.R. about it because I already get weird looks just for being on w.c. Can you help?

 

[concordlawstude]

Workers comp is tricky. It might be different in California than here in Louisiana. They should not have reduced your wages. However, they have to bring you back at a comparable position than what you were at. I don't think $2.00 would have hurt the company. Now if you were making $150K a year and they brought you back making $20K then there would be a claim because it puts you in financial hardship.

 

[cbg]

If you are unable to perform the job that you were hired to do but instead are performing a lesser one, they may legally pay you the rate for the job you are doing instead of the one you used to do. Could that be what's happening?