I currently work in a restaurant. Many times there are 2 or more individuals assigned to the cash register. If the drawer comes up short, can the employer make the employees pay the money back? What they do is split the amount by the number of individuals. I work in Mississippi. Thanks

I could not find any law in Mississippi prohibiting such deductions, although some states have such regulations. The MS website states that, for most issues, they default to federal law, which has no regulations about prohibited deductions. I couldn't even locate a Dept. of Labor in your state; my state links page of my payroll association website sent me directly to the Dept. of Employment Security. Sorry I couldn't help further.

I could not find any law in Mississippi prohibiting such deductions, although some states have such regulations. The MS website states that, for most issues, they default to federal law, which has no regulations about prohibited deductions. I couldn't even locate a Dept. of Labor in your state; my state links page of my payroll association website sent me directly to the Dept. of Employment Security. Sorry I couldn't help further.

Our experience with the labor board over deductions for such things goes like this: You cannot make involuntary deductions to recoup losses that take the employee's pay below minimum wage. They get testy with you if they have to call you about it more than once ... the guy has a looooong memory. :)

Ms. has no law restricting employers from making paycheck deductions. However, as redrocker indicated, the employer may not deduct so much that the employee's earnings for the pay period drop below the minimum wage.

The federal rules on recoveries can be found at the following webpointer. That is where the "minimum wage" restriction comes from.

http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/whd/whdfs16.htm

The company can't force you to pay the money back. If someone else other than assigned person used the register, then the blame is not yours alone.

The company has the right to fire you. But if someone else uses the register, then there is a discrepancy. The company can't fire you for this.


Only one person can be assigned to a register and only one person should access it. The person assigned to the register should be responsible for counting it before and after use.

Anyone notice the orignal post was in Dec of 2005!

Anyone notice the orignal post was in Dec of 2005!

yeah, i see that now!