Hello,

I own a family restaurant and have been running into a problem with employees not giving their 2 weeks notice. It doesn't happen too much, but my restaurant is in a affluent neighborhood and most of my employees are still in high school. If they are told to do something they don't like to do, they will quit. It is hard to get good labor in this area since these kids really don't need to work, and wanted to see if there was a way to pressure them into giving two weeks notice. Just last week I had a young kid who was working operating the dishwasher machine. He quit on Friday afternoon, and he was scheduled to work that friday and saturday. Those are the busiest days and I had to run the dishwasher myself while I had to get my wife to run the rest of the restaurant (couldn't get someone to help in such short notice). What bothered me the most, is right after the kid quit, he wanted his paycheck. I personally didn't want to see him again and processed his pay and paid him. Is there any type of document I can have these kids sign, indicating that they will not get their last paycheck unless they give a two weeks notice? Or atleast 2 days for that matter?
Thanks!!

I know it must be frustrating, but you cannot withhold wages for work that has been performed just because someone doesn't give notice.

You are, however, free to tell future employers anything that is truthful if the call for a reference. "Quit without notice on a busy Friday afternoon" is truthful and accurate reflection of what happened. Eventually, this sort of immaturity does catch up with people in the workplace.

The law does not require them to give two weeks notice, or even two days notice, or notice at all. Just as you are not required to give them notice that they are going to be fired or laid off.

There are no circumstances whatsoever in which you can withhold pay for work already done. However, your state does not require that they be giving their final paycheck immediately or on demand. They are free to quit without notice; you are free to refuse to give them their final paycheck until the next regular pay cycle.

If you have any kind of fringe benefits such as paid vacation, in your state you are free to have a policy that you will pay out any unused time IF they provide two weeks notice. (You're not required to provide paid vacation or to pay it out at termination in your state; I'm just suggesting a possible incentive for them to provide notice.)

And, of course, there's Marketeer's suggestion, which I agree with.