Legal Question in Employment Law in New York

I work from home doing data entry for a Data Entry company.

For example, I keyed 8000 records for $9.00 per thousand which would make my pay $72.00 for that job. My employer is checking for 10% or more errors made. Instead of deducting my pay for the errors made, say 800, which is $7.20, he is not going to pay me for the whole 8000 record job that I keyed. I use my personal computer from my home to work. I spent about 6 hours keying that job. Is it legal for him to take away the whole 8000 records and my $72.00 full pay for 800 errors made?

Thank you for your response in advance.


Asked on 4/11/10, 12:52 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Mark S. Moroknek Kelly & Curtis, PLLC.

It definitely seems to be unfair. Its not really a question of whether its legal, however. If you were a full time employee, he could not dock a weeks work because you made over 10 percent errors in a week long project, however because this is hourly "piece work" it really comes down to the agreement you have with your employer. If the agreement is silent, it becomes a question of whether its a reasonable way for the employer to distinguish between accurate and inaccurate employees, and 10 percent seems like a low threshold. I would suggest calling the State Department of Labor wage and hour division, and filing a claim if this happens more than once.

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Answered on 4/16/10, 2:13 pm


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