Husbands loosing pay!

[Papa Deuce]

Happens all the time and it makes sense. Not dumb at all.

BTW, many cities have done this to city workers.

It stinks, but it beats the alternative.

 

[crusoe2]

The same thing happened to my husband last year. And even after everyone (from the top down) took a pretty substantial paycut, the company still closed and DH was out of work for about 3 months. This was his second layoff in less than a year (not to mention a couple of other jobless periods in our past). He sells building supplies so, considering what's been going on with the housing market, you can imagine how hard it is to find a decent job in that field. We have joked tho that ever since he moved from sales into management that at least he's getting laid off from better paying jobs now. When he did find another one, he had to go back to commuting out of town again and started off at about half of what he had been making. I teach and those of us who had not spent all of our instructional money got some of it taken away when the state went into proration about midway thru the school year. We've been told that we will get no instructional supply money whatsoever this year. So looks like whatever I need for my classroom will come out of my pocket and, of course, there won't be any raises. But we're both just really glad to have jobs and, on a more positive note, I just got tenure and DH got a raise not long ago. So many others are so much worse off.

 

[MrsPete]

Sadly, I'm in this club! We had a paycut last year, and we have another one coming up.

 

[MoniqueU]

I am embarrassed to say how much money my husband has lost in income. And I thank my lucky stars he even has a job. It is real tight at my house right now. I know pay cuts stink I am reelking from ours, it feels like we will never get even let qlone ahead again.

 

[Sabeking]

Yes. My husband works for a university we're lucky that his salary has stayed intact (though there have not been raises for three years now), but many have taken pay cuts. Yeah, they're losing money and it sucks, but the business owners usually look after themselves first. They're not usually the ones taking the pay cuts.

My husband is the business owner and we have taken pay cuts many times just to keep some employees "employed".

 

[DisMN]

I wish my husband could have had the option of taking a pay cut or fewer hours because he would have. My husband is an ironworker and work has dried up around here. He got laid off instead of being offered a pay cut or fewer hours.

My DH took a rather large pay cut AND a cut in hours to the point where his paycheck is quite a bit less than what it used to be.........and the men in his company who DID get laid off actually take in more on unemployment than DH does while still working and recieving his cut pay and shorter hours.

You top that off with a complete halt to profit sharing/bonuses and his pay for the year will be about 1/3 of what he usually makes.

I'm not sure our situation is better than if he had been laid off, if it helps at all for you to hear that. These are frustrating times for sure and things feel pretty bleak.


OP I wish you well......these things seem to be happening across the board!

 

[racetrack18kb]

The company that my DH works for has had almost no work this summer. This is a construction company so they make their money in nine months of the year or go without. We are going without. He is the top man on the seniority list sop he at least gets his time but many of the workers are only getting three days a week.

Be glad that your DH has the opportunity to work, so many folks are simply laid off. I know that my DH thinks his company will shut down and since he has worked at the same address for over 38 years he is very nervous.

My husband works construction also, commercial roofing to be exact. The "summer" months are the months of overtime to make up for what we "lose" over the winter.

Right now, there is no overtime here. In fact, there really is no work here. DH is out of town working 11 hours away. He's been away way more often than he's been home. His/our choice right now is work away from home for weeks at a time or no work at all. Tough of course but it is what it is.

There are days that I wish a pay cut would be his option. We could make do if we had to. But it kills him to be away from the kids (4 of them ages 16, 13, 8 & 6) He knows he can't get that time back with them. And in the long run, IMO, time is much more precious than money.

 

[ORMom2Four]

It's happening everywhere. Everyone in my husbands company had a pay cut this year. He got his pay cut only 2 months after getting promoted. He expected a RAISE for the promotion---nope---it was CUT!!!

 

[CowboyCO]

My husband works for a family member. He does contracting. His boss lost a few jobs recently and has told my husband that since he lost these couple of jobs he now is going to pay him $3/hour less! Has anyone ever heard of something so dumb? Usually people get raises....not get money taken away! So now on top of loosing some hours per week (because there is less work) he is going to get paid $3 less per hour. My husband has worked for this company for 7years. We are related to the owner which is why this is a sticky situation. My husband wants to stay loyal to his boss and hopes things will turn around in the future, which I'm sure they will cuz doing contracting they pick up new jobs all the time, but I think my husband is getting taken advantage of. What do you all think? Have you ever heard of an employer doing this? Thanks

I had my base pay cut by 25% on January 1. That's $6.25 per hour (roughly). I'm very grateful that my boss didn't eliminate my position, or eliminate me!

 

[mfd25wife]

Company wide-~25,000 employees took a 10% paycut, lost one week of vacation, and lost 401K match, lost future pension contributions. But, the alternative would have been worse.

 

[powellrj]

DHs pay is 30% less than what it was and add to it that he is working more and more hours for less pay. He is on commission and has started to work on Sundays just to keep up. He use to have to make 8-10 calls a day and now he is making 24 calls a day and bringing home less money.

I hate it, but what choice do you have. Its a job and if he left, there would be someone in line to take his place.

 

[Nancyg56]

My husband works construction also, commercial roofing to be exact. The "summer" months are the months of overtime to make up for what we "lose" over the winter.

Right now, there is no overtime here. In fact, there really is no work here. DH is out of town working 11 hours away. He's been away way more often than he's been home. His/our choice right now is work away from home for weeks at a time or no work at all. Tough of course but it is what it is.

There are days that I wish a pay cut would be his option. We could make do if we had to. But it kills him to be away from the kids (4 of them ages 16, 13, 8 & 6) He knows he can't get that time back with them. And in the long run, IMO, time is much more precious than money.

That is how it is with my DH. We are used to him being gone long hours in the summer months but that is when he makes the money to last us through the leaner months. The men working need to make 1800 hours to have a full year towards their retirement and it is rough for the newer people to get those hours but by the time you work your way up you should be able to count on having a "good year". There is no way most of the guys will make any where that many hours. They are just glad if they got called back in time and have enough hours a week to keep their health insurance.

Last winter my DH was home all winter, with his seniority, first man after the union rep, he has not been off like that in years. What made it worse was that his company actually turned down work that they had been accepting for years. It was the work that kept guys working and that generated the more lucrative contracts. This summer that decision is showing with the majority of people home 2 or 3 days a week. To add insult to injury some salespeople were steering work away for the company to their family members in the same business

We are not sure what is going to happen but I have never seen so many of his coworkers worried about the coming months.

 

[slo]

If my DH would have been given an option for a paycut, instead of losing his job, he would have taken the paycut.

In this economy, I wouldn't complain about the paycut, because losing your job, is so much worse, and such a reality.

 

[Mom2Nick]

Yes - this happens all the time. An owner cannot just keep things the same when the money is not coming in. The alternative is your husband has no job.

 

[goofyernmost]

DH has been working for the same company for 20 years, hasn't had a raise in 4 years, and his bonus was $10,000 less this year. I know a lot of people who have taken a 10% pay cut this year.

OMG! What color is the sky in your world? $10,000 LESS? I haven't worked for a company that gave out bonuses for over 20 years and then they were just $300. to $500. per year.

 

[Papa Deuce]

OMG! What color is the sky in your world? $10,000 LESS? I haven't worked for a company that gave out bonuses for over 20 years and then they were just $300. to $500. per year.

Meh, my BIL gets $25 - 35K bonuses almost every year. My wife "can" get that too if she meets her goals. Both work in the pharmaceutical industry. It happens far more than you know.

 

[LisaNJ25]

very common these days

My brothers job cut his salary by $20,000 a year and still expected him to work 60 plus hours a week. Now he is fighting for unemployment.

 

[mlynn]

My husband has been with his company for 13 years. He hasn't had a raise or a bonus in 3 years. Now over time has dried up.He used to have at least 30 hours of over time every two weeks. But now he is lucky to have 5 hours overtime. He also runs a small company with his brother Construction on weekends. Last summer he wasn't home at all on the weekends. This year he hasn't worked one weekend

Things are tough all over.I have been applying for jobs since Sept. and I have had 3 interviews( 1 interview was for a school lunch aid. 65 people applied). So many people going for the jobs.So taking a pay cut is better than getting laid off.

 

[luvsJack]

Dh's income has been cut in half since last October. He is a truck driver and we were told the loads just are not there. We have been skimming by and scrambling to keep afloat. In the past two weeks we have come to find out that it wasn't all the economy; part of it was the dispatchers not getting the loads that were there!! The boss found out too and we are hoping to see some changes; if not dh will be steady looking for work with another trucking company.

He used to work in construction and keeps in touch with several of his former co-workers; so I know how you all with husbands in this field are feeling. Its not the easiest line of work to be in in the first place and then to not have enough work in the summer to hold you over for the winter; that is really tough.

 

[Hoodie]

OMG! What color is the sky in your world? $10,000 LESS? I haven't worked for a company that gave out bonuses for over 20 years and then they were just $300. to $500. per year.

There are a few industries that pay their employees very little but "make-up" for it with huge bonuses. The big bonus sound nice in one big chunk, but it's really used by their employees as supplement for the small salary. It's not a "let's see how good Christmas will be this year" kind of bonus, but an "allocate household bills for the next 12 months" bonus.

A good friend changed jobs and took a 60% pay cut. The year end bonus makes up the difference. However, the bonuses are not guaranteed and are based strictly on how the company does, her group performance, and her personal performance.