I run a small concrete construction company, and last week we had to pour concrete for some new townhomes, a inspector came to the job site and fined me $400 for 4 employees who did not have hardhats on. (this happened in the past and I paid the fine but talked to all employees and told them that they were responible for any future incidents). The inspector left and the 4 employees decided to walk off the job and leave me with all of the concrete and no workers. I had to pay 4 subcontractors $25.00 per hour for 6.5 hours to finish the job and not to lose $3000 + in concrete not to mention the job.
this was on a friday morning when the guys walked off, that afternoon the guys came back to pick up there checks, which I gave them and at that time I told them that I was going to deduct the $100.00 Hardhat fine and the money that I lost because they walked off from the following check, they all agreed. The following friday I deducted $262.50 from each of there checks $100 for the fine and $162.50 each for the 4 subcontractors which worked 6.5 hours each. (26 hrs @ $25 devided by 4 $162.50 each) When they came to pick up checks only one of they guys accepeted his check and the others refused the checks. Now the guys are threatening to sue the company because of the deducions. Am I in the right? I thought it was fair concidering the circumstances. Please advise ASAP...
Tina

Generally, the law recognizes that employees are entitled to be paid for work that is performend, and the only deductions that you generally are allowed to make from employees' paychecks are those that are authorized in advance by the employee (i.e., taxes, insurance premiums, and so forth). If you had, for example, gotten the employees to sign something that said that they understood and were aware that things like the $100 penalty would be passed through to them, you'd be on much firmer ground right now. As it is, the employees are well within their rights to report this to the state department of labor which could assess you for the employees' missing pay as well as costs and fines.

All of the employees signed the Safety form when they were hired that stated that it is mandatory to wear hard hats and safety gear while on a job site. So I can not charge them the Money I had to pay the subcontractors because they walked off??

Tina

Typically employees can not be held responsible for the costs of doing business which this was. Unless you had something in writing that permitted deductions of this sort, it probably isn't legal. You would not be able to take them below minimum wage in any case.

See here for additional information. http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/whd/whdfs16.htm

Well, you could try, as Florida law does not address deductions from pay at all. Be prepared to be sued though, especially if what they signed does not specifically state that they authorized the deduction.

Thanks, guys
I now see the ups and downs, I did not deduct anything from the first week they left and deducteded it the last check. Which did bring the employee below min. wage. I did not know that it should have been devided so that would not happen. I recieved a phone call from a local farmworkers assoc. (type of immigrant legal aid) demanding a written explaination of the charges by 4:00 pm today . Sould I send them the copy of the company back charges for the hard hats (which are made out to each employee from the contractor who gave us the job) and the invoice for the subcontractor or should I seek legal advise first.

Tina

Before responding to a lawyer, always consult one yourself.