People getting "suspended" out of nowhere!

[imailin]

What is the name of your state? Florida

Out of nowhere, the company where I work for is suspending people. About 2 days ago an employee was suspended because in an order of 50 pastries by mistake she gave the customer 3 extra pastries (the price of each pastry is less than $1.00) The kitchen manager and owner humiliated this woman in front of everyone and they suspended her for 5 days (5 days without working) This was not stated on the employee handbook or in a Letter to employees or anywhere. Subsequently they have been doing this with everyone that makes a simple mistake. Unfortunately since they cut hours to all the employees, in some cases full- time employees had their hours reduce to less than 30 hours a week, I believe this suspension new "policy" is a way to find any mistake to reduce hours and reduce labor cost.
Please let me know if this is legal!
Thank you in advance

 

[xylene]

Suspending employees is legal.

Absent a contract, It would have been legal to fire employee for almost any reason, (even no reason) so the employee could have been fired for making a mistake.

It is true that a 3 dollar mistake is not that big a deal, but 3 dollars could have been the entire profit for that 50 pastry order as baked good profits are slim and the market very competitive.

I would suspect that this business might be having financial trouble and are being reactionary in a last ditch effort to save the company.

Look for a new job soon.

 

[imailin]

Suspending employees is legal.

Absent a contract, It would have been legal to fire employee for almost any reason, (even no reason) so the employee could have been fired for making a mistake.

It is true that a 3 dollar mistake is not that big a deal, but 3 dollars could have been the entire profit for that 50 pastry order as baked good profits are slim and the market very competitive.

I would suspect that this business might be having financial trouble and are being reactionary in a last ditch effort to save the company.

Look for a new job soon.

Thank you for your answer.
I work on the administration of this company and NO, they have no financial problems, they are just difficult people... but that is not the problem, Could they suspend people without letting the people know they will take this action if employees commit a mistake?

 

[eerelations]

Could they suspend people without letting the people know they will take this action if employees commit a mistake?

Yes, absent a contract that dictates otherwise.

(And anyway, it sounds like the employees know by now about this new disciplinary process.)

 

[cbg]

There is no law in any state that says you have to be warned in advance before you can be suspended.