Is It Legal to Cut an Employee's Salary for Lying About Their Education? Let's Discuss!

Hi People,

Is it legal to reduce an employee's salary in case the employee has lied about his education and joined a company? Your views on this, please.

Regards, Joylyn

That employee should be thankful to his employer for only reducing his salary. Otherwise, he could face legal action from the employer for giving false or fake information. You remember we sign a declaration at the time of joining that all the information given below/above is TRUE TO THE BEST OF HIS/HER KNOWLEDGE, and so on.

These days some companies get everything verified from third-party agencies. They outsource all the work for checking degrees, certificates, experience, etc. I heard that some companies even fired people after three months of joining because they gave false or fake information at the time of joining. So never do that. :)

Hi Joylyn,

According to me, it is illegal to reduce the salary, but I am not sure about the reduction of salary in such a case. Still, I would suggest that the best measure to take is to dismiss the employee unless that particular employee is exceptional or has a lot of issues.

Regarding the reduction of salary, we had a discussion stating that it is illegal to cut, I mean it is not permitted according to the law.

Can members contribute on this? Is this legally correct?

Regards,
Amith R.

Well, as far as my views are concerned, though it's true that the salary reduction is illegal, an employee can even be dismissed for providing wrong information. In this case, if you think he is a good worker and you want to retain him too, then I would suggest formally demoting him to a lower level and giving a lesser salary than what he/she is currently earning. This would address the legal issues, and the employee would also be thankful that you are just demoting him and not terminating him (which you can do as per the initial declaration). Hope this helps in deciding his/her fate.

Regards,
Ashissh

Yes, it can be legally approved, provided the punishment of a reduction in salary should be awarded after the proper adoption of legal disciplinary action procedures, and the reduced salary should be according to the employee's actual qualifications and experience, i.e., minimum wages or according to other wage rules prevailing in the particular area.

If the essential qualification for a particular task involves some technical knowledge and the employee does not possess that, in that case, the employee should not be kept on that task even after reducing the salary. He should be given a task which is matching his qualifications.

Thanks.

S. K. Moudgal
sudhirkrmoudgal@yahoo.com
09891992792

I have over 100 employees, and we are in the retail jewelry industry. I would like to reduce an employee's salary by $50 a week due to the fact that they made a $500 company purchase of a fake non-gold item. The employee has been properly trained but did not follow company policy. Can I do this?

Hi,

What I suggest is to terminate his present employment status and rehire him for the new task that he is suitable for according to his educational qualifications. Salary reduction is not justified under legal obligations. Do not make your own laws; your actions should be legally justified.

Sandeep Sable
Email: sandeep_sable@rediffmail.com

@ Joylyn:

I agree with others to the extent that rather than reducing the salary, a better option would be to issue a formal memo to the employee (preferably quoting the section of the employment agreement or appointment letter dealing with genuineness of employee-given information) stating how he/she has not complied with the employment policies and hence he/she would be liable to be terminated/demoted or any other action as the company policy prescribes. If you wish to retain the employee but at a lower rank and salary, you could add something to this effect:

"However, in view of the employee's good conduct and performance, the company has decided to retain the services but at a (lower) salary and (lower) position."

@ kennethnyc1:

I am not sure if you can reduce the salary of an employee for one mistake which cost the company $500, as long as the person is qualified to be in the position he is in, as there is already an agreement between you and him on a particular salary amount. You could issue a show-cause notice asking the employee for an explanation for his conduct which has resulted in the losses, and then based on a formal discussion with the employee, implement any salary cuts (of course, all of these have to be documented, with reasons).

Your friendly Lexorcist