:confused: I and my boyfriend are over the road truckers. We left the company we had been driving for apx. 1 week ago. Here is the issue: we both have direct deposit. Last Friday morning, when we checked our account, we found that neither of us had been payed. I spent all weekend trying to get some info...no luck. Finally, on Monday when I went to get out pay stubbs, the "only" person who could help me had not come in that day, and, after a in-depth search around the front office to find our pay sheets (the only ones not in the usual pile, they were found almsot hidden on 'the persons' desk.

Once home, we open the most recent pay sheets, and come to find out that the company had "withheld" our entire paychecks for what we both feel are bogus charges. They did take taxes, but in order for them to charge me they neglected to take the required amount of child support i pay every week.

sooo.....Labor board seems like it will take way to long, when small claims may only take 6 wks or s...

your take on this on this dilema

What kind of charges are you talking about?

A wheel/rim, a service call, a cash advance (which i did owe), and a "claim" for a sign replacement

Oh, and thanks for your quick response...

I still don't understand. What do you mean, a wheel/rim? What about a service call?

Well, they could also be held in violation of the child support order, as child support must be withheld before anything else, except taxes.

Wages can be withheld against under a "good faith dispute".
http://www.ica.state.az.us/faqs/labor/wage_payment_laws.html#

We drive a semi-tracktor with a 53ft trailor. so the wheel/rim is one of the wheel/rims that roll it down the road...lol:)
The service call was when we were stuck at a truck stop and we had to call someone out to replace a rim on the trailer. He just sort of ended up keeping the wheel .

another question. there was supposed to be a charge several weeks ago, but they never deducted that one. Does that make any difference?

Any difference to what?

And what are you supposed to have done with the wheel/rim?

To quote Patty, I'm not a dentist; I don't pull teeth.

I'm on hold so I'll take a stab at this. You and your bf received a cash advance from your employer, and kept a wheel that belonged to the employer when there was a recent service call. When you quit, your employer cancelled direct deposit and issued you a live check. You normally have child support automatically deducted and this was not done, and in addition, your employer deducted what was owed for the advance and value of the wheel. There was some sort of charge a few weeks ago that you authorized but was not taken until now. You want to know if this is legal.

Couple questions (not sure all will pertain)- was the child support a voluntary deduction or a court ordered garnishment?

Did you ever sign anything authorizing deductions for "missing" equipment, parts, or company property? Was anything in writing regarding the cash advance?

Few comments- If you kept the wheel or it wasn't properly returned to the employer or whatever it is you did with the wheel that caused it to not make its way back to your employer, you can be held responsible. That means they can sue you in small claims court for the item. If you kept it and it wasn't yours to keep, they can also file charges for theft. Is a broken truck wheel really worth it?

Same goes with the advance. They never have to give you a pay advance or advance for expenses or what ever it was for. If you don't repay it, off to small claims court you go (depending on the amount). While they *may* not have technically been allowed to deduct it, and that has not been determined yet, you do owe the money one way or another.

I'm 99% sure the employer may cancel direct deposit and issue a live check. If there is something funky about your situation that bars this, Patty will know.

no.1 the cash advance was only $100.00. We had done this before when we ended up laid over in Oregon for almost 2 days. That amount was expected. $50.00 from him and $50.0 from me.

Our dispacher told me to have the service guy remove the tire and just drive back with the rim still on the trailer. He would not authorize any replacement. Drove back more than 1000 miles w/out the wheel on the rim.

The deposit was supposed to happen before we decided to leave the company, not after. and the child support is a court orderd deduction.

and according to the employee hand book i am responsable only for damage due to neglagence, not every day hazzards, and ware and tear.

By the time my employer was done deducting... i had about $150.00 left. And the 'hard check' issued was for $0.00. i never rcvd a penny of my pay for the week. we drove almost 4000 miles that week. We should have had sweet checks that week.


oh, the rim on the trailer got bent while driving through a very tight constrution zone comming into Loredo. this let the air out of the tire. the rim would have had to have been replaced and i don't know whether the tire was still serviceable at the time or not.

So what was listed as deductions to account for the missing $150?

not a *&*^& thing. it's just missing.
the thing is, we did some research and the cost of the replacements and the other charges he took...nothing should cost as much as he charged me.

And you have to figure that this was also charged to my boyfriend. Since we are a team, half comes from him and half comes from me. all told, it ads up to more than $1000.00.

a bit of overkill if you ask me. And i know i can't go back to the yard and ask them, because i have the feeling they tried to hide this from us to begin with.

Okay redhead1, get those marbles out a that bag and dump them out here on the table ;) .

Have you returned all other company owned equipment free of damages? The tractor, trailer, any and all accessories or equipment belonging to the company? Have you attempted to contact the tire service company that made off with the "wheel", (just for my curiosity was it the wheel, the tire, the rim, or both?) to see if you can retrieve it and get it to the company?
Would you have otherwise had a way to transport it safely back to the company with the truck? And I don't mean hung on the cat walk by a bungee strap nor bungee strapped to the back of the cab. I mean a tire hanger under the trailer that is in complance with DOT regulations to be used to safely transport an extra tire/wheel?

You said you quit aprox a week ago which would be sometime about last Wednesday right? Then Friday is payday. With direct deposit they would not have otherwise released those funds until Thursday night at midnight. Giving them ample time to put a hold on the dd and revise your pay on the paper checks jsut in case they thought you owed them for something. So in essence they did know ya'll were quitting prior to payday of last week. Still does not make it legal for them to hold your pay as with any other profession wages are due and payable and can not be held hostage.

We were in Tx last wed. We loaded our back-haul Thursday afternoon, and arrived back home on Sat afternoon. Which is when we informed them we were quiting. The pay in question was for the week before.

The tire (black rubber thingy) would have had to been put in the trailer. Which would have ment breaking the cust. seal, which is a HUGE no no. we would have to take another 1000+ mile trip just to find a wheel (that more than likely was dammaged) and another 1000+ miles to returne it to the company. The rim in question was never removed from the trailer.

Okay, well technically they, the company, can not require you to transport that "black rubber thingy", usually called a tire, if they don't provide a DOT compliant tire hanger under the trailer or an another DOT acceptable apparratus in which to safely secure the tire. Also they could have authorized you to break the seal and put it in the trailer. Either way they can't "make" you disregard DOT regulations to bring that worthless black rubber thingy to them.

Regardless, they still can not legally hold/deduct from your wages for anything other than, cash advances, taxes, and court ordered garishments. Transportation is no different than any other industry where wage payment laws are concerned. They simply can not "hold your pay check hostage". And they can not charge you for their costs of doing business. Ya'll need to make an unpaid wage claim at your nearest DOL. You will need to know how much you are owed in order to do so or at least a very close esitmate.

That really is wonderful to hear! I do know the exact amount that was held from both our checks. (we make exactly the same amount).

Do I have to file with the labor bord first do you think? or can i small claims and get all this nonsence over quicker? That really is the most important thing. I'm now almost 2 weeks past on my rent because that check was gonna pay that....:eek:

Did no one see what was in the link I posted first?

An employer may only withhold an employee’s wages when the employer is required by state or federal law, the employer has the employee’s prior written authorization, or there is a reasonable good faith dispute as to the amount of wages due, including the amount of any counterclaim, reimbursement, recoupment or set-off asserted by the employer.

underlining for emphasis, mine.