Final Payroll Deductions legal?

[adrianne.moore]

What is the name of your state? FL

I am the Payroll Specialist for an Engineering Consultant Firm with 95 employees. We have an employee that quit. Our employee manual states that upon separation, the employee will owe back the company for any seminars or educational classes that the company paid for the past 2 yrs.
Because it was stated in the manual and the employees sign acknowleding receipt of the manual, can we go ahead and make the final deductions from his final check or would that be illegal?

 

[Beth3]

If you don't get a definitive answer here, I suggest you call FL's DOL (the Department of Workforce Innovation) to find out for certain - and I'd likely call anyway to verify anything you're advised here. You could be looking at some hefty fines and penalties if you make a poor decision.

Unfortunately, I am not familiar enough with FL's reg's to advise you on this but I can tell you in my State, what you are proposing would be unquestionably prohibited. An employee's signature for their handbook is not sufficient authorization to make payroll deductions.

 

[cbg]

I don't know the answer for Florida either. In my state, when a past employer wanted to do exactly that, our corporate attorney told us that if we forgave 1/24th of the debt for every month they stayed with the company after the training, it MIGHT be enforceable. (But probably not.)