Will worn brake pads wear rotors?

If you don't replace the rotors or have the old one machined there is a glaze burnt into the rotors from all the braking done with the previous brake pads. That glazing stops the heat from dispersing properly through out the rotor and will cause them to warp and you also get brake fade. The new brake pads will go bad sooner then if the rotors had been replaced at the same time you did the new pads. Using cheap low grade brake pads also ruins new rotors so buy premium brake pads. Thy only cost a few bucks more!

Unfortunately, yes, the worn out pads can  severely damage the rotors.

Yes, pads can be worn down enough to destroy the rotors.

Wouldn't it be nice if everybody just replaced rotors and pads together? 

Surely! 

But the rotors don't get used up with each set of pads, unless the pads are worn past the friction material. 

Rotors have a minimum thickness, which should be clearly shown upon the rotor.  This number is multifaceted. 

A rotor can be resurfaced in many cases, but as consumers we are highly tuned to cost. 

When disk brakes first appeared in mass production in USA about 50 years ago, the cost of resurfacing a rotor was only a small percentage of the cost of a replacement rotor, so it was cost effective at minimum, to make a thin cut on the 2 surfaces of the rotor and reuse it with new pads. 

With the increased cost of machine shop labor and the decreased cost of Asian replacement rotors nowadays, the costs are getting closer together. 

Most brake shops would prefer to just install new rotors and pads, for simplicity, and reducing any long term problems for the customer, at a higher cost to the customer.  Machining rotors takes time and reduces profits, and thinner rotors can have problems easier.

Thinner rotors warp easier, but so it seems that new Asian rotors warp easier too.  Some new Asian rotors even come prewarped as many brake technicians know.  

So what's the answer?

In your case, are the surfaces of the rotors injured?  Are your rotors too thin?  Some mechanics can look you straight in the eyes and lie to you.  And others can tell you 100% facts but be disbelieved.  If you want to know for sure, you need to look at your rotors and pads and measure the rotor thickness. Then you'll know.  

None of us out here on the internet can tell you the condition of your rotors without seeing them.

-General automotive mechanic since 1972

It's possible.  Brakes usually squeak first, and then they grind.  The grinding sound is the metal on metal destroying your rotors.

Yes, that's exactly what happens, rotors aren't very expensive.

When they get down metal to metal, they tear up the rotors. If they haven't worn that far, rotor damage is very unlikely.

Yes.  If the rotors are too scored to turn down, they have to be replaced.

brake pads would have to be nearly non existent to damage the rotors. anyone with working eardrums would know when that happened

YES, worn pads will cause excess wear to rotors.

Note: In MOST locations, auto shops were considered 'essential' and never closed.