DoIhave any rights if I was laid off and then rehired and forced to take a lower paying job?
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DoIhave any rights if I was laid off and then rehired and forced to take a lower paying job?
I have been unemployed for 1 year. My last employer me paid me $11/hour before I was laid off. They rehired me last week but they will only pay me $8/hour. I have 9 years experience and I am sad and angry and can’t pay my bills. Unemployment told me I had to accept the job.
Asked on April 19, 2011 under Employment Labor Law, Florida
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 13 years ago | Contributor
In this situation, you probably do need to take the job.
First, recognize that your former employer did not have to rehire you at all; and having offered you a new job, they can offer it any wages or rate that they want. You are free to turn it down, except that if you do, that may invalidate your receiving unemployment compensation after that--it seems the unemployment office believes that this is a comparable enough job (and it's "only" around 27% lower than your past pay--that's certainly a lot, but it's less of a cut than many people have had to accept in this awful economy) that if you declined the job, you'd now be in violation of the unemployment rules and unable to get unemployment.
Probably best is to take the job but keep looking for a new and better one, or see if you can't leverage your experience into getting some raises quickly. Good luck.
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