Withholding Pay From Deadbeat Employee

[tonynicotd]

I work at a landscaping company in Frederick, MD. Recently, one of our draftsmen working on an hourly basis was to leave for the weekend to Massachusettes. On the week prior to his departure, some of the office staff including myself observed him looking on websites for jobs in the Massachusettes area. We took note of the hours this was taking place and deducted it from his timecard. Aside from the websurfing, he did not finish any of the drawings that were given to him for that week. When he left for Mass., he was due to return to work on Tuesday of the following week. The Wednesday after he left he called the office and informed the manager that he would not be returning to work and was going to stay in the Massachusettes area. One of our office managers wondered if he was trying to get himself fired so he could collect unimployment benefits. What can we as a company legally do to try and recoup some\all of our losses from the week in which this draftsman was basically acting as dead weight?

Thanks in advance,

Tony Czeh

 

[Michael Wechsler]

He would not be able to collect unemployment benefits if he voluntarily terminated his employment. Was this individual paid? If you paid him after seeing his lack of work... you might have a difficult case to make. Regardless, you'll have payback if he tries to collect unemployment -- plus he relocated to a different state.

 

[tonynicotd]

More Information on Deadbeat Employee

First off, thanks for clarifying the whole deal with unemployment. As it turned out, he was actually trying to get us to fire him so that he could collect benefits while he still had an address in Maryland.

After he notified us that he wouldn't be coming back to work, we decided to hold his final paycheck until he returns all of the drafting supplies and books that are at his house. From that final paycheck we have also deducted the hours he spent online while on the clock looking for another job and the deductions were recorded in his employee file. Is this pretty much all we can do or is there anything else? We are already taking a loss since we paid to send him to drafting classes at the local community college and almost immeadiately after the class was over he left.

Thanks again for the help.

--Tony

 

[Michael Wechsler]

If you are seeking to extract additional money from him beyond the last paycheck... well... you know what you'd have to do. It might not be worth the effort. He might be back for his paycheck so you might think about salvaging some satisfaction when he returns with his hand out yet again.

 

[tonynicotd]

Thanks for all the help. By holding his paycheck we were able to get all of the supplies and books he had taken home and he didn't say anything to us about the deductions made to his last paycheck for doing jobsearches while on the clock; looks like he knew when to leave well-enough alone. This site is truely a great resource, especially for us folk who aren't law gurus. Special thanks to thelawprofessor!

Thanks again!

Tony Czeh