wage deductions without permission

[redbuds]

I just quit my job at a fast food franchise. When i started I had to sign a contract stating the employer could deduct $.25 or $.50 per hour per shift for mistakes that I make. I worked there for a year. The employer decided to change one kind of mistake to $1.00 per hour per shift. She did tell me she was doing so. I told her she could not do this without my approval and signature because she was changing the contract. She ended up tell me she could do what ever she wanted and made the deductions. I did get unemployment but she appealed it. I have had the hearing but am waiting on the results. If it is decided that she did brake the contract and illegally deducted wages what are my options (legally). Could I sue for Illegal wage deductions? How much money could I get (ballpark). Would it even be worth my time and expenses?

 

[Patricia_Young]

Were you making minimum wage or very close to it?

Plus, I doubt very seriously that this was a "contract". Contracts have very specific requirements and this very likely did not include the required components to be a contract. And even if it was, a contract cannot make an illegal "something" legal.

How much are we talking about in total?

 

[army judge]

Most people working full time work about 2000-2300 hours annually.

At one dollar an hour that's about two grand she stole from you.

You could sue her in small claims.
Or, you could bring a complaint before your state agency that enforces wage and labor laws.

Review your pay stubs.
Tally up the deductions for all the time you worked for her.
That is the amount you can sue her for in small claims.

Or, take your complaint to your state's wage and labor law agency. They'll do the rest.

What she was did was steal wages from you for things you didn't do. Nice little scam she has going. I hope they investigate her. She's a crook.

 

[Darsha05]

Totally interested in what the total amt of the deducts were...and from what I read, the 1.00 change was recent. Also, that has to be hard not only being robbed "during working hours" (based on what what I read above) but also knowing you are not doing a very good job and constantly lining the bosses pockets for happy hour for that performance!!! I have never heard of such a thing to be punished monetarily through auto company deducts - but even worse, where are the segregation of duties here? Your boss informs you are not doing the 1.00 task properly, efficiently and so and she also authorizes the deducts...hmmm you need to catch her with both hands in the cookie jar. If it were me, I wouldn't worry so much about the small amount of money...I would go after the policy itself and question the checks and balances/segregation of duties reflecting wages/garnishments and so on...smells fishy to me <pun intended!!>

 

[Patricia_Young]

http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs16.pdf

Missouri does not have any specific laws regarding deductions from pay, so the above federal law will apply.

If the deduction for any given workweek took you below minimum wage for all hours worked, or cut into your full overtime pay, you can file the claim with the MO Dept. of Labor, though, as a minimum wage violation.
http://www.labor.mo.gov/DLS/WageAndHour/MinimumWage/file_complaint.asp