Legal Question in Employment Law in Illinois
Employer Deducting Unallowed Expenses From My Final Compensation Payment
My employment was terminated and I am scheduled to receive my final compensation payment on the next regular payday, which is the 30th of this month. I just received a document from my employer entitled, Severance Agreement And Release, wherein my employer states that he is going to withold expense monies that he, all of a sudden, has decided to disallow. Also, instead of being paid for the 39 days of accrued and unused vacation I had coming, he is telling me that he will pay me for only 30 days. Receipt of my final compansation payment is contingent on my signing this document. In other words, if I don't sign this agreement, he won't pay me at all. Not only does he want to pay me less than I am due, he wants me to agree to his doing so by signing this agreement. Is it legal for my employer to make arbitrary deductions from my final compensation without my agreement? What are my options? Is my employer subject to any penalities if he deducts money from my final payment or doesn't pay me my final compensation on the normally scheduled pay day? Is it legal to make my payment contingent on my signing this agreement? Please help me. What should I do? Thank you very much for whatever assistance you can provide me.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Employer Deducting Unallowed Expenses From My Final Compensation Payment
In my opinion, it is quite
inappropriate for your soon
to be former employer to take
this course of action. If
you sign that agreement,
chances are you will be
signing away your right to
file a claim for any violation
of your rights as an employee.
It is your decision, but you
may want to think twice about
signing and consider filing
a lawsuit. I hope my comments
will assist you in making an
informative decision in your
best interest.