Am I required to pay for a walked tab Texas Texas

[T.mills]

I had a couple walk a tab today at lunch it was only 54.18 but I was forced to pay it even tho it was out of my hands and my manager and host where in the back eating so there wasn't even anyone by the door to have even stopped them. Sorry for the run on but I'm on my phone at work.

Thank you,
Tye

[DAW]

This is a "that depends" type of question.
- If we are talking about federal law only (FLSA), then the type of deduction described would be a "for the benefit of the employer" type of deduction. The deduction would be legal to the extent that it did not interfer with federal minimum wage or overtime requirements. Example, if Bob works exactly 40 hours this workweek, and is paid $7.50/hr, then Bob is paid (before this deduction) exactly $10 over the federal minimum wage. Which would mean for this workweek that a maximum of $10 could be deducted. Please note that the federal rules do not say that the deduction is always legal or always illegal. The federal rules say that the deduction might be legal to the extent that MW/OT rules are complied with. Plus we also (probably) have the federal tip rules in play.
http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs16.pdf
- States cannot make federal law go away, but states can have rules more favorable to the employee then the federal rules. Your state is not my state. I have no idea what rules (if any) TX has on this.

[Betty3]

Texas -

Sec. 61.018. DEDUCTION FROM WAGES. An employer may not withhold or divert any part of an employee's wages unless the employer:

(1) is ordered to do so by a court of competent jurisdiction;

(2) is authorized to do so by state or federal law; or

(3) has written authorization from the employee to deduct part of the wages for a lawful purpose.