Ask HN: Should I sign a pay cut agreement?

Hi!

My employer recently announced a 10% pay cut across the board. Where I live(South Africa), employee consent is required.

The company sent out a document asking us to sign in agreement.

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This is the state of things now:

* Company laid an unknown number of employees off, and laid them off without letting employees know until a week later in a meeting where they announced pay cuts

* The company is pretty much full remote and the office is a nice-to-have. It is in a very expensive part of town.

* Lunches once a week are catered at the office

* I asked what happens if one were not to sign, and the response was "Oh, we haven't thought about that. We're hoping that everyone pulls together."

* The situation will be reviewed quarterly

* Company says they don't expect it to last very long, also citing this for why they kept the office

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A few things stand out to me and feel like red flags, namely:

* They chose to cut salaries rather than cut the office rent and catered lunch/snack expenses

* They have no plan should someone not sign. I would think they would have planned that out, specially since they went on about how long it took them to make this decision.

* Layoffs were hidden until an announcement, which was also ambiguous where people thought it was still coming.

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My options are to sign and take a pay cut, or refuse to sign and see what happens. Law here says I am entitled to what effectively comes to a layoff, but I can't predict what the company will do.

The pay cut also makes my life a lot harder since we were already on a tight budget.

I would appreciate any thoughts, knowledge, or advice you might have.

I know you are not a lawyer and I am not expecting you to be, but lawyers can't speak to real world experience from others in the industry. I am currently finding a lawyer to assist.

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Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35235474

Points: 6

# Comments: 9

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