My husband is a salaried asst manager at a fast food restaurant.

He was told today that his bonus check was being cut in half (and he should feel lucky about it because they wanted to take the whole thing, but the bigger boss said that they didnt want to do that). because someone on his shift broke an item and non another day he was injured on the job when he sliced his hand open and they had to pay for him to go to the er and get stitches.

Another employee (hourly) broke a couple small plastic pieces a couple days ago and they are making him pay $25 a piece for these.

Can this company legally do this? Neither one of them signed anything saying they could.

Maybe. Bonus payments are technically different then other types of wages. You said "salaried", which is just a payment method and does not really mean much by itself. When most people say "salaried", they generally mean "Exempt Salaried" - someone who is never paid overtime but whom has legally restrictions placed on docking the salary. Is that what you mean?

If so, then under federal rules the employee must be paid at least $455/week and the salary would have docking restrictions that would run a foul of the sorts of deductions you are talking about. However, smart employers rather then paying a larger salary would pay the legal minimum ($455/week) plus a bonus. While the salary has some docking restrictions (29 CFR 541.602 regulations), the bonus if done correctly would not. Obviously the "contract" (if any) would need to be examined, but whenever I hear about a "salaried assistant manager" getting the bonus dinged, I assume that the employer probably legally knows what they are doing.

Past that, more details might be useful. I am assuming Exempt Salaried. I am assuming an untouched minimum salary of $455/week. I am assuming that there is not something in writing regarding the bonus that would not prevent this action. I am assuming that the employer knows what they are doing.

Any of these assumptions could be wrong.

He is a salary manager.... he does get docked if he misses time from work.. does not get paid overtime.. but if he works an extra day in the week... he would get paid for that. The bonus is for how well the store does in a months time.. sales... no injuries.. and such.

The part he did not break.. another employee on his shift did, when he was in charge.. another part came up missing.. on his shift.. they want him to pay for those items as well as docking him for being injured on the job. The injury itself.. makes the store lose that part of the bonus for last month.


What about the hourly employee? Can they make him pay for something else that got broke?

There are two different issues here, but to your original question.
If we're talking about deducting from NET pay, see here:
http://www.michigan.gov/dleg/0,1607,7-154-27673_32352-83347--,00.html

In your husband's case, it appears we're talking about reducing his bonus? What does the plan say about the factors used in the calculation?

The second issue, although not your original question, is that he does not get overtime pay but is docked when he misses work. See here for the exceptions allowed for docking of an exempt employee's salary.
http://www.dol.gov/dol/allcfr/ESA/Title_29/Part_541/29CFR541.602.htm

Yes it is legal to reduce the bonus if it is based on no injuries or broken equipment and those things happened.