Approximately four years ago, I was approved for a medical accommodation that reduced my workload without reducing my pay. My manager at the time, and the HR director at the time, both approved it. My annual salary stayed the same, and I had a specific job requirement removed from my plate.

That manager and HR director both left the company about 2 years ago. At that time a new manager and HR director came in. My accommodations continued as before - no problem. Both the HR director and manager were well aware of my accommodations setup, and continued to approve me for my reduced workload with my full pay for the last two years.

Recently, I requested a small additional accommodation. The HR director and manager decided not to grant the additional accommodation - but more importantly, they also decided to practically revoke the accommodation I’ve had for four years. They said that they discussed my situation with the company lawyer, and learned that my accommodation was set up “wrong”, and that it should have always been a reduced workload with reduced pay, not a reduced workload with the same pay.

They admit that the previous HR director and manager purposefully chose not to reduce my pay when reducing my workload for this accommodation. This wasn’t a clerical error - it’s what everyone agreed upon at the time. But the current HR director says the previous one must have “misunderstood how it should have been done”. She says that some employees at our company work part-time for reduced pay, and that I should have been offered the same. She said now that she’s “discovered” that my accommodation was “wrong”, it needs to be fixed.

I am now being told that I need to either increase my workload (very difficult due to my medical condition), or have my salary reduced significantly (~25% pay cut). Is this legal, when this accommodation has been in place for years with no issue?

If it’s relevant, the company has 100 employees, and they have not tried to claim it’s an undue hardship (which, to the best of my understanding, it isn’t). They also acknowledge the legitimacy of my medical issue, and my need for accommodation. They’re just saying my accommodation “should have” always included a pay reduction - and now they’re just “fixing the mistake” by significantly reducing my pay moving forward.