Withholding Final Paycheck for Return of Company Property? Utah

[ConfusedEmployer]

I employ a majority of teenages and everytime one quits I have the problem of getting back the uniforms they were given. We have thought about starting to withhold their final pycheck until we recieve the uniforms (and any other company property). Is this legal? If not, can we make them pay for their own uniforms and then just "buy them back" at the end of their employement, if they don't want to keep them? What is the best way to handle this?

[cbg]

There is only one state that permits an employer to withhold a final paycheck until all company property is returned, and that state is not Utah (it's South Dakota, to be precise). So no, your first option is not permissable under the law.

I'm not sure about the second suggestion - possibly one of the payroll people will know.

[ScottB]

We have a security guard company and have similar problems.

We deduct 25 cents per hour worked as a uniform deposit. We cap it at $70. We could go higher but there is no reason to do so. Very few walk away from $70 so they could keep our uniforms or are too lazy to bring them back to us.

You can do this ONLY if the deduction does not put the employee below minimum wage! (US DOL auditors told us that about 16 years ago and we changed our practice to comply with the laws).

At the time, we were charging a flat amount per week and it worked okay for 40 hour a week folks, but part-timers ended up being put below minimum wage.

If you are paying minimum wage, you cannot charge even one penny as a uniform deposit.