My Employer In New York Is Allowing Me To Work At Home. Must My Employer Pay Me The Same Salary Or Hourly Rate That I Earned When I Worked At The Employer’s Office?

No. Your employer in New York, who allows you to work from home, is not required to pay you the same salary or hourly rate that you earned while you worked at the employer’s office, provided that your employer gives you proper notice of the reduction in pay.

More specifically, employers may consider a temporary reduction in pay in response to the economic downturn.

Federal law does not require employers to provide notice, to employees, of a change in pay.

However, New York State law does require employers to provide notice, to employees, of a change in pay. New York employers must provide, to their employees, a notice of a reduction in pay, which is often satisfied through the paystub itself. However, the best practice at this time is to provide written notice of the upcoming reduction and be sure to document “read receipt” if the employee cannot execute a signed acknowledgement.

More specifically, section 195(e)(2) of the New York Labor Law states that an employer must “notify his or her employees in writing of any changes to [their pay] information . . . , at least seven calendar days prior to the time of such changes, unless such changes are reflected on the wage statement furnished in accordance with” N.Y. Labor Law § 195(3).

N.Y. Labor Law § 195(3), in turn, requires an employer to furnish each employee with a statement with every payment of wages, listing, among other information, rate or rates of pay and basis thereof, whether paid by the hour, shift, day, week, salary, piece, commission, or other; gross wages; deductions; and net wages.

If you are an executive or a professional in the New York City metro area and you believe that you have been wrongfully terminated, that you’ve been denied salary, bonuses, commissions, or other wages that are owed to you, or that your employer has failed or refused to reasonably accommodate your disability, call New York City Employment Attorney David S. Rich at (347) 941-0760 today.