Legal Question in Employment Law in Illinois
I have a question about an employer holding back wages as a "security deposit." I thought this sort of thing was only done in the third world by slimy employers as a means of exploiting and controlling powerless workers, usually immigrants. However, I recently heard of one professional services company purchasing another. The purchasing company is requiring that all employees either have a week of pay held back as a security deposit up front, or else the company will "loan" them a week of pay to then be deducted from the next 4 weeks of pay, with the four deductions to be applied as the security deposit. Is this practice of holding back earned wages as a "security deposit" legal?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Totally illegal and actionable. I'm happy to chat with you about this issue.