Legal Question in Employment Law in Florida

Pay deductions for shortages?

I work for a small, family-owned business. My employer, also the owner, has decided that as of this week, any shortages (as in negative differences between the amount in an employee's register at closing time and the amount to be accounted for) are to be deducted from that employee's paycheck. My question is, does he have the right to do this?

Furthermore, does he have to take into account any overages? On that same note, if a later shift is a significant amount over, and this can account for the previous shortage (all employees use the same drawer, but must account for totals during their shift; employees prepare a drawer with 200 dollars for the following shift to use), what happens?


Asked on 8/14/06, 1:24 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Keith Stern Shavitz Law Group

Re: Pay deductions for shortages?

Federal law only prohibits an employer from paying you less than the federal minimum wage ($5.15/hour) such that deductions from your wages (assuming the Fair Labor Standards Act applies to them) only violate the FLSA if the deduction causes your pay to fall below the minimum wage. It is an unfortunate situation in an area of the law that doesn't really provide the protection that one might expect . . .

Read more
Answered on 8/14/06, 9:32 am


Related Questions & Answers

More Labor and Employment Law questions and answers in Florida