Employment Contract Amendment

[someguy]

Hello!

In February 2022, my employers unilaterally amended my contract so that I would be working an extra day per week (6 days/week) for 20% less pay* with immediate effect. They explained to me that COVID has forced them to reduce their employees' salary and increase their workload to break-even.

I disagreed with this amendment and requested time to negotiate this. The negotiations took roughly 15 days and I did not work during this period although I was still technically employed with them. We eventually settled back on the original contract's terms as I pointed out that what they were doing was illegal.

My question is: Should I be paid for the 10 days where I was negotiating the amendment with my employers? My employers don't think I should because I wasn't working. However, I believe I should be paid for it as they tried to amend my contract illegally.

*I am aware that an employer cannot amend an employee's contract without their consent if it reduces their rights or salary on the labour department website.

Thank you

[HK_Katherine]

Tangentially related to your post.... I was on a webinar last week and one of the speakers was the owner of Maxims. He was talking about strategy and how they had actually paid out bonuses during the pandemic, despite not even breaking even, because people were his assets and he wanted to treat them well to maintain his business. Other than pointing this out to your bosses, not sure what you can do. At some point - unless you are totally essential to their business - they will just fire you.