Pseudo wage garnishment?

[mlte]

What is the name of your state? Nebraska

I work for a veterinary clinic where employees are able to purchase food, medical supplies and services at cost. We are also able to charge these perks.

Recently, all employees received a Christmas bonus. Those of us who had balances on our accounts had a portion of our bonus applied to our accounts rather than receiving the cash.

All employees also recently had an annual review and a pay increase. Again, those of us who had balances on our account were told that the back pay due us for our wage increase would be applied to our balances. Future paychecks would not include our increase, but the amount of raise would be taken out pre-tax dollars and applied to our accounts.

I objected to this for a couple of reasons. The biggest one being that none of us were confronted with the issue of the balance on our accounts. Monthly statements are not given to us. We do all have access to our accounts, but were not made aware that this was becoming a problem for our employers. We were not told that our employers need to see us start paying on our accounts in a more consistent manner. We were not offered the deduction from our wages as an option. They simply said this is how it will be.

I personally don't feel that this is an appropriate way to handle this. I also question if it is legal?

 

[Beth3]

In most States, deductions from wages must be specificially authorized by the employee, so chances are this is not permissible. You can contact your State's Department of Labor to get a definitive answer.

I agree it would have been much better for the employer to communicate to individual employees that their charge balances were becoming a problem, however you should be aware that the employer's easiest solution to the problem is to discontinue the practice altogether.