I have a question regarding my sons job as an assistant chef. He and at least one other employee were docked a whole shifts pay( which for my son was a 12 hour shift that day) for not clocking in or out, as I understand it. As a young man newly married and with a baby, he can not afford this. Apparantly there were warnings from the owners of the Inn he is employed at that this would happen if the time clock issues went on. They followed through with their threat as it did happen again. I cannot see where this could possibly be legal. My reaction to this would be to call a lawyer and not work until the appropiate pay is rendered, or, to do what the lawyer would suggest. Unfortunately my son does not want to contact a lawyer. Anyone have any suggestions or had any experience with this sort of issue? If this is illegal could they be trying to get away with the docked pay because there is not proof he and his co-worker did in fact work(because they did not use the time clock)?

Your son could be disciplined or fired for not following procedures, but he should be paid for his time.

It is simply not believable that his failure to clock in or out means that they had no idea that he worked. That could be if he was someplace working alone, but not in a restuarant, unless he was working at night, by himself, cleaning the place up.

The costs of a lawyer are far too much to get whatever time he is owed, but your state Department of Labor might be able to help.

https://uipublic.labor.vermont.gov/wagehour/wage_complaint_form_online.html