Industry norm doesn't matter, company policy does. Are you so unaware of your company's pay practices that you don't know if this is true? Ask HR for policy doc

Industry norm doesn't matter, company policy does. Are you so unaware of your company's pay practices that you don't know if this is true? Ask HR for policy documentation and go from there. I do agree if I am reading correctly, you can afford the cut but you don't want to be screwed. So if you like the job and that's the policy, take the cut. If you don't like the job, leave even if you can get the same pay rate.