At my restaurant the servers are made to pay for mistakes that they make on tickets after the fact. If you forget to add a certain item into the ticket total, then we are asked to make it up (and since tickets are all calculated by hand this does certainly happen every now and then). Is this practice legal?

Also, when the register is totaled out at the end of the day, the servers on duty are required to make up any difference if it comes up short. Is this practice legal?

Are they asking you to pay out of your pocket immediately, or are they deducting from your paycheck?

Are they asking you to pay out of your pocket immediately, or are they deducting from your paycheck?Out of our pockets. Once the manager goes back though the tickets, any that have mistakes are placed in envelopes and posted on the wall of the server station. We're expected to pay for the mistakes with cash.

If the register doesn't total out, then we're supposed to make up for it that day.

I would contact the state Dept. of Labor and inquire. It is possible that the DOL would interpret this as merely a subterfuge to keep from having to get the employee's voluntary, written authorization to deduct from your paycheck.

What happens if you refuse to pay?

What happens if you refuse to pay?That's a good question. :) Mainly I don't have much desire to rock the boat, so to speak, so I, and all the other severs, have just been going along with it. This is more so curiosity on my part than anything else...

I'm not buying it. I can't force you to inquire, and follow through with any action recommended, but I must tell you that this will continue unless the employees start calling the employer on it.