Fired from a temp service job.

[Giwdala]

My son in law has been working as a diesel mechanic at XXXXMs thru a temp agency for roughly 3 weeks now. Yesterday something happened at the job site and he accidentally dropped a dolly and bent the legs. It was not intentional, no messing around, purely accidental. When he got to work today they fired him. Being that he's still in the probationary period, I know they can fire you for just about anything, so it's not worth fighting that but my issue is that they are charging him $200 to fix the legs of this dolly!! It will cost them just over $400 I guess but he was told the max they can charge someone is $200. Is this legal? If he was never told that he would be held responsible for broken tools? I could understand if it was due to negligence or horseplay but it wasn't. It's not worth hiring a lawyer in this case, as XXXXMs has the money to take this as far as it needs to go, but I am curious as to the legality of it all. TIA!

Edited to add that we are in Wisconsin.

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

They can not legally deduct the $200 from his check unless he authorizes it. They can sue him for the damage but the deduction would be illegal.

https://dwd.wisconsin.gov/er/labor_standards/wage_deductions.htm
P.S. Even if he was out of his probation period they could still fire him.

 

[Zigner]

Who is "they"?

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

In addition to the WI link, I posted previously, if the $200 lowered his average ay per hour below minimum wage it would be a Federal violation as well.

 

[commentator]

He should call the state's wage and hour division of the Department of Labor. They should guide him on how to proceed.
Whether he is in his probationary period has nothing to do with their ability to legally fire him, whether he was told he'd be responsible for broken tools doesn't have anything to do with this. Most people tend to believe they have a lot more rights and protections on the job than they do.

 

[Mass_Shyster]

he accidentally dropped a dolly and bent the legs. It was not intentional, no messing around, purely accidental.
I could understand if it was due to negligence or horseplay but it wasn't.

Generally, an accident is negligent.

negligence
[ˈneɡləjəns]
NOUN

1. failure to take proper care in doing something.
   "some of these accidents are due to negligence"
   synonyms:
   carelessness · lack of care · lack of proper care and attention · dereliction of duty · nonperformance of duty · non-fulfillment of duty · remissness · neglectfulness · neglect ·
   [more]
   • law
     failure to use reasonable care, resulting in damage or injury to another.