Employer Deducted Final Check for PTO

[GottaGo]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NJ
Hello,
My husband quit his job on Sat 8/1. He was a non-exempt hourly employee who was guaranteed 40 hours pay/wk. On the week he quit he had one day of work left, but had already reached his 40 hours and already accrued some OT for that week.
On his final check the employer deducted for what they told him was a PTO overage.

I did not think that in the state of NJ employers were allowed to take that money unless an employee agreed that the money was owed to the company and agrees to pay it.

There was no discussion about my husband's final pay, they just deducted what they felt appropriate.

Is this allowed in NJ?

Thanks for your help!

 

[cbg]

DID he take more PTO time than he had available?

 

[GottaGo]

He would have taken more than he accrued, but not more than he was allotted for the whole year.
But I was under the impression that he had to agree that he owed them for that time.

 

[cbg]

It was probably technically illegal for them to deduct it without his signed authorization. But since he does owe the money back, I'm not sure it's worth his while to take any action. So he files a complaint with the DOL, best case scenario the DOL orders them to pay him, then the employer pays him and then turns around and sues him for it and wins since he took more time than he'd accrued, what has he gained other than a bad reference?

 

[GottaGo]

Thank you, CDG.
You make a fair point.
There have just been so many shady practices from this company. They take such advantage of their employees we'd really like to teach them a lesson, or just show them that they can't treat people like this - that they, too, must follow the law.
But to sue them for it when they can just turn around and sue for it back probably wouldn't even be worth it.
I have looked through their handbook and am beginning to look at my husband's pay stubs.
It appears that they book any PTO before it has been accrued as 'negative PTO'.
I wonder if this is how they cover themselves.

Any idea how them using 'Negative PTO' would benefit them?

Thanks.

 

[ShyCat]

Any idea how them using 'Negative PTO' would benefit them?

It means they're flexible and understanding of real life circumstances that don't neatly fit in with a set accrual pattern. I see no reason to try to assign a negative connotation to something that clearly benefits the employee more than the employer.

 

[cbg]

I can think of no way in which calling it negative PTO would benefit the employer or harm the employee, which is I think what you're really after. They can cal it whatever they want. They can call it a toaster if they want to. They can call it Gary if they want to. But what they call it does not change what it is.

 

[TinkerBelleLuvr]

Did your husband take more PTO than he had ACCRUED?

 

[ecmst12]

There's nothing shady about this practice, it's very common and probably spelled out VERY clearly in the employee handbook which he undoubtedly signed to acknowledge he was aware of it.