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hri_Admin asked 5 years ago
Can an employer change an employee from salary to hourly? How much notice is required? and how is the hourly wage to be calculated? I'm in Alberta.
1 Answers
Glenn Demby answered 5 years ago
1. There's nothing in the ESC to bar you from changing employment from salary to hourly. However:
>There may be something in the employment contract that bans such a change, e.g., a clause making it clear that the employee is and shall have the right to remain on salary.
>To the extent you make the change unilaterally and it results in significant reduction in compensation or other consequences harmful to the employee, he/she may be able to claim constructive dismissal and sue you for significant damages. (This is less of a concern if the employee's hours and pay won't change and the wage is just an hourly-based conversion, in which case the employee is essentially already an hourly employee)
2. The contract should specify timelines and procedures for making material changes to the agreement--as this change surely is.
3. Assuming you're not seeking to cut the employee's pay and just want to convert his/her salary to the equivalent hourly rate, i.e., you'd simply divide the annual salary by the number of normal hours worked in a year.
Hope that helps. Glenn
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a change like that first has to have the employees consent or you risk a constructive dismissal