I work at a small establishment (9 employees plus owner/wife). When I was hired it was to work Tues-Fri 8-6 and Sat 8-5. For these hours I was to be paid 400.00 bt. That is a total of 44 hours IF I take a lunch hour. Very rarely do I have that chance, but I'll give it the benefit of the doubt and say I did to make the math easier. 400 bucks for 44 hours (no overtime mind you) equals out to 8.89 an hour. I recently had to take 5 hours off to attend to some personal business. When I recieved my paycheck for that time period I was docked for 5 hours at a rate of 10.00 an hour. I don't think I just fell off the turnip truck, but I didn't think it was possible to dock more per hour than you are paying someone. Correct me if I am wrong. I am not the only person that this has happened too. I failed to mention, I have been able to leave on time exactly twice in the last month. Most of the time it has been more like 30 to 45 mins after closing.
What should I do and how should I address this problem.

I work at a small establishment (9 employees plus owner/wife). When I was hired it was to work Tues-Fri 8-6 and Sat 8-5. For these hours I was to be paid 400.00 bt. That is a total of 44 hours IF I take a lunch hour. Very rarely do I have that chance, but I'll give it the benefit of the doubt and say I did to make the math easier. 400 bucks for 44 hours (no overtime mind you) equals out to 8.89 an hour. I recently had to take 5 hours off to attend to some personal business. When I recieved my paycheck for that time period I was docked for 5 hours at a rate of 10.00 an hour. I don't think I just fell off the turnip truck, but I didn't think it was possible to dock more per hour than you are paying someone. Correct me if I am wrong. I am not the only person that this has happened too. I failed to mention, I have been able to leave on time exactly twice in the last month. Most of the time it has been more like 30 to 45 mins after closing.
What should I do and how should I address this problem.
You could start off by talking to the person who does payroll, and see how they came up with that. I don't know about the overtime. Sorry.

I talked to the lady that does payroll. She told me she was instructed by the owner's wife to cut at the 10.00 rate. (wife comes in once or twice a week to dictate policy/actions etc and then goes back to her classroom) She didn't agree with it, but she had to do what she was told.

I would contact your states Department of Labor, and see what they say. It can't hurt.

Technically if you are still receiving at least minimum wage for the hours worked and OT as appropriate, it is legal. It stinks and is a rotten business practice, but your employer may adjust your hourly rate down if you take leave.

she isn't adjusting the hourly wage down. I am basically paid 8.89 an hour but any time off is being cut at 10 an hour. basically taking more an hour away from me for hours gone instead of what I am normally paid. it would be like taking 3 hours off, but being cut for 5.

Considering that the employer doesn't have to offer paid time off at all, I don't see anything illegal here.

she isn't adjusting the hourly wage down. I am basically paid 8.89 an hour but any time off is being cut at 10 an hour. basically taking more an hour away from me for hours gone instead of what I am normally paid. it would be like taking 3 hours off, but being cut for 5. It appears that even though you may sometimes not get a lunch, they expect you to, so you have 4 hours a week that you are at work, but you do not get paid (lunch time). Are you choosing to not take a lunch, or are they giving you no choice? The figures that the person was using was correct. You are only supposed to work 40 hours a week, so the hourly pay would be 400.00 (40 x 10.00=400.00). If you feel you are getting cheated by the fact that you do not take lunch, so you should be getting paid for the half hour every day that you work, then you need to speak to your boss about this. I must warn you, if you are not taking your lunch, and the boss did not specifically ask you not to, then you could get in trouble for not doing so.