When a new employee begins working for my company, they are issued an ID badge and locker key. These items are costly to replace and lately, more and more of these items have been lost.

Is is legal in MA to recoup the cost of replacing these items (ie. charging employees $10 per lost key/badge)?

If so, is cash payment ok, or can a payroll deduction be made given prior notice?

Thank you!

To my knowledge, there is no law in MA prohibiting you from requiring the employee to pay for another ID badge or locker key if they lost the ones you gave them. However, any deduction from pay requires the employee's written authorization.

This is not a legal suggestion, but something that may help you with the transition.

My old employer tried to do this without any notice to employees. He just one day decided he was going to start back-charging for lost items.

At some points, tools from the shop would get lost and he would arbitrarily accuse someone of loosing it even if he did not know who it specifically was. Then he would make that person pay for the replacement.

My suggestion is if this is what you are going to do, then do the following:
-Inform the entire company via memo or meeting that this will become policy.
-Set a date for the policy to be enacted (1 week after the meeting). This will allow for people to get themselves better keychains and such.
-Put the policy CLEARLY in writing in your handbook.

Again, this is not legal advice, but it should help you with the transition of rules. Additionally, nothing made me less motivated to work for my boss than his arbitrary punishments (without actual rules these are nothing but punnishments). A happy employee is a good employee.

Thank you both for your reply. I do plan to have a meeting with the staff to announce this change and to get sign off. Hopefully, that will make them more careful with their items!

For further clarification, in MA, the DOS issued an opinion letter in April 2003 adressing seven deduction requests and denied them all. There are very few deductions allowed from an employee's minimum wage in MA, other than those required by law. They include things like lodging and meals, although very limited in both cases.

I don't think an employer could charge an employee for lost keys, if it reduced their pay below minimum wage.

Here's the list of the ones they denied for reducing pay below minimum wage:

1) losses, shortages, and breakages such as loss from a cash register, or loss or damage to employer’s goods, machinery, or tools;

2) drug/alcohol tests of current employees or job applicants;

3) background checks of current employees or job applicants;

4) uniforms;

5) safety equipment/protective clothing;

6) medical examinations and furnishing of medical records; or

7) cash advances, such as advances on vacation pay.

There is a provision for having a uniform deposit, but I don't think you could stretch that to tools and keys.

There are also additional Federal guidelines on deductions from wages. These can be found at 29 CFR sections 778.304-778.307.

Let me know if you need a link to the Code of Mass Regs or the DOS 2003 Opinion Letter.

Of course, not reducing pay to below minimum wage was assumed, cc. ;)