my mother has been working for a company for longer than 6 months and she was up for a review and got a raise. she's been getting paid this amount for a little over a month. one day she went to receive her pay, opened the envelope to read it, and some co-worker whore looked over her shoulder to see what my mother earned. the co-worker went to their supervisor to complain why my mom was getting paid more. my mother was upset about it and said it was none of the co-worker's business and she never disclose her pay to this women or anyone. 2 weeks later, they dropped her pay. the employer told my mother that there was a glich in the system, the pay was wrong and they corrected it. i think it's b.s. and it was out of complete retaliation from the co-worker and employer and they got their way. my mother is probably 10 years older than this women, same nationality, they started about the same time, but my mother does have a lot of work experience. should we seek legal help or leave it alone?

There is nothing inherently illegal about pay cuts. It MIGHT be illegal for them to cut it without giving her advance notice, but that would not mean they couldn't cut it; just that they would have to pay her at the higher rate for any hours she worked before she opened that last paycheck (which would be considered notice). She can check with the GA state DOL on this issue.

What many people consider retaliation is not illegal. Even if you are 100% correct that the pay was cut because the co-worker complained, that is not illegal.