False Pay and Review Promises

I was employed with a company located in Oakland, Ca. for almost two years. After my initial interview with this company, I was asked what salary rate I was seeking by the person interviewing me. I was then called at the end of the day by this person informing me that the graphic design position was mine if still interested but at a lower yearly salary and if I was successful during my 90 day probation, I would get an adjustment on my salary to the original salary I was seeking/bidding.

In the 20 months I was employed with this company, I never got a probation review nor a yearly review. I was told by my manager that I would get my review when he wasn't busy. I reminded him on several occassions but still had no performance review.

I then learned from many employees that have been employed at this company years longer than I, that it is habitual and a normal thing for them to tell new hires as part of their hiring pitch that they/we would receive pay rate increases upon successful completion of a mandatory 90 day probation period and not get any review and pay raise as promised. I quote an employee at this company on this topic..."they always tell everyone that their pay will increase in 90 days, I took me 5 years just to get this recent pay raise and was the only raise I ever received."

I have been laid off by this company and recently learned that 5 other employees were terminated by this company. I've spoken to them while I was still an employee at this company and (I came to the company almost a year before them) and they too were struggling with the fact that they were lied to regarding their statments of pay raises increasing after successfull completion of 90 day probation.

The hard part in all this is that it was never written in my files of promised pay rate adjustment upon successful 90 day probation nor do I believe the other former employees had any written proof. This was all verbal. Do we have any legal rights regarding this situation we've experienced? The only proof are those of former employees and existing employees that informed me that they've also experienced the exacct same thing and that the practice of telling "New and Prospective Employees that their pay rates whether salary or houry will increase unpon successful completion of their mandatory 90 day employment probation period."