My question involves labor and employment law for the state of: California

Hi All,

Let me start off by clarifying a few things. I live in California and travel the country for my job. I currently work for Company B, which is located in North Carolina and is owned by Company A, which is located in Florida. I don't know if that will make a difference, but I figured I would get it out there.

I also want to be clear that I don't expect I will have any recourse right up front. But I want to do my due diligence before deciding my next move.

In 2011, Company A recruited me to head up their quality and training initiative in India. When I started, quality was around 30% and 6 months into my job, it had risen to around 80%. My boss recognized this and gave me a significant pay raise, about 20% of my total salary annually. In 2013, Company A decided that they would switch all of their processing software to the software produced by Company B. They had bought Company B in 2012. My boss came to me and asked me for a favor. They had a liaison between Company A and Company B who facilitated the roll out of training and implementation of the software nationwide, but the VP at Company B could not stand this person. My boss needed someone to step in and do that job and I was the first one he thought of. I agreed and took over the position in 2013, the VP of Company B loved me and things were great.

In 2014, the VP of Company B went to my boss and told him she was so happy with what I was doing that she wanted to take me on to her staff permanently. My boss came to me and asked if I would be ok with that. Since Company A is a Fortune 500 company and Company B was a smaller operation, I was concerned about my salary. My boss told me that my taking the position at Company B would be beneficial to both companies and that he would pay a portion of my salary and continue my incentive program if I were to take the job, so I took the job. Since 2014, I have had 3 excellent performance reviews, each time getting a raise.

Fast forward to yesterday, where I got a call from my former boss telling me they are going to stop paying a portion of my salary as of June 1, and they are ending my bonus program. He also told me I would have to talk to my current boss, but he didn't know if she would be able to match what I am making now. Obviously, this was a punch in the gut. I'm looking at anywhere from a 25% to a 40% cut in pay, through no fault of my own. There was no contract signed for him to pay a portion of my salary, it was just a handshake agreement, but he has been doing it for 3 years.

So now, I have to decide what to do. I still haven't talked to my boss with Company B, since she has been traveling and is unavailable, but I don't expect good news when we do talk. Do I have any legal recourse?

If you need any additional information that I have left out, please ask. I'm just looking for options right now.

Thank you for your time.

Jack