If my boss wants to dock my pay $20-$100 for petty mistakes like turning in a report late, is this legal?
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If my boss wants to dock my pay $20-$100 for petty mistakes like turning in a report late, is this legal?
The employee handbook or job description does not state this. Also, she wants to make us pay our own flight/hotel and change-of-flight cost, if we do not secure a certain amount of sales when traveling outside of the state. Is it legal for a company to make an employee pay their own way back home? These changes can cost upwards of $900 depending on where we’re traveling and were never clearly explained in a job description or policy handbook. She has just now come up with this policy.
Asked on April 23, 2012 under Employment Labor Law, Florida
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 11 years ago | Contributor
Yes, your employer may make it a term or condition of employment that you owe money for making certain mistakes; it may also make it a term or condition of employment that you pay your own travel expense, either always, or if you do not meet certain sales targets. It cannot do this retroactively--so you cannot be told to pay your own way home after you've already traveled on the understanding the companny would pay, for example--but the employer could announce these rules and enforce them from that point forward, so long as you do not have a written employment contract to the contrary.
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