Q: When signing a contract for a specific amount of hours per day can an employer cut those hours without consent?
I started working for a program that advertised and was written in my onboarding documents as paying 16 hours per day. They have since asked for the same level of comitment and hourly work but only will allow me to report 13 hours without getting approval beforehand for overtime. I never signed any documents allowing them to cut my hours. Is this legal? Do they have this right as my employer?
A:
Hello,
Utah is an at-will employment state. Meaning that either one of you can terminate the employer/employee relationship at any time for any reason.
From your description, I am not sure if you are a 1099 employee or an actual employee. Unless you are on salary I don't see how they can ask you to work more hours than what they are willing to pay for. You are basically negotiating your wage again. And because either side has the ability to end the relationship unilaterally, that can happen at any time.
Unless you have a contract that specifically guarantees you a job at a certain rate for a certain period of time, it doesn't sound like the company is breaching contract or doing anything illegal. However, if they hired you for $x/hr and they don't pay you $x/hr then that would be a breach of contract for which you could recover.
I hope this helps.
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