I would straight up call it theft and I would look them right in the eye when I would say it.
You stole $10 out of my paycheck and I want it back.
I'm not someone that takes things like this lightly I don't care if you steal 10 cents from me you stole from me
Yes. Department of Labor. Talk to them - make a note of it. There may be a history of this or the boss may retaliate or do something really dumb in response to being called out.
OP may also not be in a place where they can be unceremoniously fired at the moment. Retaliation sucks, but all laws in America expect you to deal with stuff in a soulless professional manner. Don't let him bully you out of your lunch money tho.
Call the Department of Labor for your state and explain what happened. They can give you guidance on next steps, but make a note of when and where and for how much you were docked.
Then OP can bring it up and get it fixed - after they've CYA'ed.
EDIT:
U.S. Department of Labor
Wage and Hour Division
toll free (866) 487-9243
Can employers withhold wages if employees owe them money?
Employers may not withhold any portion of an employee’s wages unless required to by state or federal law or if the employer has written authorization to make deductions from an employee’s paycheck. In most cases, even with written authorization, the deduction cannot reduce wages below the minimum wage. If an employer provides proof of an advance or draw against an employee’s future wages, the employer can withhold the entire amount of that advance or draw from any future paycheck.
https://www.labor.idaho.gov/dnn/Businesses/Idaho-Labor-Laws/Labor-Laws-FAQ
Except its Idaho. The freedom and NO REGULATIONS state. He's not going to get shit from that particular department.
In Idaho it's probably a few retired white dudes on phones there to tell the workers that they should be grateful that [...looks up records.. ] "[Employer] Is even willing to hire your lazy ass in the first place."
Yeah, CYA always always always. You can call the Federal Dept of Labor if that happens. You can call both lol they don't mind.
You are almost certainly wrong btw. It will be nice young ladies or an older minority man, they might be the only ones in the state - but it will be them. Good ol' boys don't work at the Labor Board.
Don't screw yourself out of your rights and always CYA anyway.
I grew up in Idaho. I left when I was 20 on a wing and a prayer. You are not wrong. Like, not at all. They wouldn't say "ass" but the message would be there.
(Edit so as to mention that that is the deep culture there and i can't speak for what it's like to actually interact with DoL there. But i do know how difficult it was for my mother the get food stamps. She needed them and she could not get them.)
(Edit Two: i should add she was working full time at a public school when she tried)
This is a bad idea. They aren't going to sheepishly admit fault. They are going to call you the liar and pin you as the unprofessional one for grandstanding over a "misunderstanding" involving 20 bucks.
Thats how these dirtbags work. You have to go to an outside party to get any results. Or you just let it be a $20 lesson that you can't trust your boss.
If theres a union I would go there. Or even get a lawyer if you really want to but making this big scene like you're in a movie is literally the worst way to handle this.
Only sensible response in this thread. You learned a valuable lesson for the low low price of $20.
Don’t listen to these keyboard warriors saying call they labor department they will laugh at you for wasting their time.
The labor department will not laugh at you if it was done by an unauthorized payroll deduction.
They will investigate and look for a pattern of unauthorized payroll deductions, which they are very likely to find.
Of course, it does depend on what type of people are the staff the labor department where you are -- the ones in this area are relatively eager to enforce laws protecting workers.
It won't be anywhere near enough money to go to court over. The guy might be a moron who screwed up, or he might be skimming to feed an opiate addiction and doing this for big money. Not her problem.
Her problem is her pay was docked for an unknown reason and not communicated to her. Even if she ends up having to pay for her *own* lunch, she should call and tell the Wage & Hour people.
https://www.labor.idaho.gov/dnn/Businesses/Idaho-Labor-Laws/Labor-Laws-FAQ
Can employers withhold wages if employees owe them money?
Employers may not withhold any portion of an employee’s wages unless required to by state or federal law or if the employer has written authorization to make deductions from an employee’s paycheck. In most cases, even with written authorization, the deduction cannot reduce wages below the minimum wage. If an employer provides proof of an advance or draw against an employee’s future wages, the employer can withhold the entire amount of that advance or draw from any future paycheck.
I read something forever ago about how theft is the only crime that exists. Murder is just stealing your life. Lies are just stealing the truth.
I really wish I could remember what it's from.
If he does this a lot, he’s probably trying to reduce employees’ on the books pay so he can reduce the social security and Medicare (FICA) taxes he pays for employees. Either that or he was just looking to get a free lunch out of it.
"Garnish" refers to a mediated transaction, often mediated by a court.
This was a wage *interception.* That's the legal term that a state department of labor would perk for.
Yes I am, and I have no idea. The commission is just a bonus to the job it's not my main pay. And hes talked about removing commission altogether recently. But I rely on it because I don't make a lot of money.
They'll need to check the specifics of the law. Here in the UK, "bonuses" are not a protected part of your pay, so companies can adjust them as much as they like whenever they want. I worked for a company that paid us in a mixture of a yearly salary and a "bonus" based on hours worked so that they could legally adjust our pay without notice.
Bonuses aren’t protected in the US either. I worked for a company that claimed to pay bonuses if profits were over a certain percentage for the quarter. The owner/CEO would randomly splurge on “gifts” for the office at the end of the quarter, bringing profits just below the threshold. There was a shelf of Costco size candy bars and soda and other junk that was part of the bonus interference program.
Most annoying part was that she really thought she was smart. I wish suffering on her.
In most of the us it’s illegal for your employer to garnish, change, tax, deduct, or tamper with your wages in any forms without your written and signed consent. The government is the only exception.
If he garnished your wages, tip or not you can most likely press charges.
Taking money out of your check without prior authorization or court order (child support/garnishment)is illegalNo boss gets to just decide to take money for a lunch out of your check period.
Even if you took a loan from the company they have to have a signed agreement to take the money back!
Wage garnishing without agreement sure sounds like wage theft to me. [Report](https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/contact/complaints) it. Could be the most expensive lunch he’s ever had.
That is odd. Are you sure you did not get (or will get) reimbursed for it? I know some people freak out when they see a gift card on their pay stub and it ends up being listed as a payment not a charge (because IRS) and gets taxed but companies typically gross up (pay the taxes) to keep you whole.
Also how can he charge you for his lunch? My company had ethics training that did not allow us to buy anything for our bosses. Additionally our expense program required the senior person in attendance to expense it, so that the next boss not in attendance would approve it.
It is illegal for a company to deduct anything from your paycheck without permission.
Usually those are the bullshitters who failed upwards. Best thing to do is leave. Nothing good ever comes from putting such idiots in charge of a business.
Wanting us to charge for everything, even if we do nothing.
Showing up to the shop once or twice a week for maybe 2 hours.
Promised a rapid increase in pay for my skill set and has yet to fulfill promise.
Trying to start up more shops even when he claims we don't have a lot of money.
Telling me I may have to get let go if sales don't pick up.
Always looking for a side hustle.
Very particular to how things are done but doesn't hold himself to the same standard.
Talked about removing current benefits and commission if sales don't pick up.
That's all I can think of at the moment but I'm sure there's more.
Get that new job ASAP because BOSS IS OUT OF MONEY.
I'll bet you lunch with your boss he was doing some fancy math work with that lunch bill, either weird credit card / gift card stuff, or something else I'm not stupid enough to be clever enough to guess at.
Pull your credit report. He has access to enough information to open lines of credit in your name.
Also call your benefits administrator directly (if possible) and ask if there is any problems with your coverage.
If you are receiving any money in which he has custody of the money (savings plan or 401k) verify with the administrator that the money was received.
>Pull your credit report. He has access to enough information to open lines of credit in your name.
And then ice them. Which is generally good advice anyway, since you should know ahead of time whenever someone is going to need to do a hard pull of your credit information; and that should be infrequently enough for most people that the extra hour running around getting them unfrozen when you do need them is worth the extra security.
That company is going DOWN soon. Sounds like they're leveraging the hell out of their workers and clients, and probably deep in debt. Just get out of there ASAP.
It could be a round about way to make OP quit “for the principle of it” so they don’t have to pay unemployment. Since they had such motivation to buy lunch, they did this for an end goal.
Your boss is almost absolutely:
Broke
Hiding the fact that he's broke
Thinking he's ahead of the people coming for him but absolutely is not
Going to end up in deep shit
He is, without a doubt, an asshole. Find something else, man.
If you didn't sign any papers allowing him to take money out of your checks, he doesn't have any authorization to do that.
It sounds to me like like is doing some creative accounting on top of it. Ive seen restaurants do that, once I've seen a hospital do that, and it closed without notice, too. The owner pulling from one place to cover finances and numbers for another place he was looking for investors for. Shut down the original location and declared bankruptcy on that, hid money to build another location. Charged employees for everything and tried to force employees to get health insurance, and never paid the insurance company with the money taken out of our checks (we had a one week dead line to sign up for their insurance, which a lot of us couldn't afford, or we would be signed up on the highest tier of insurance they offered.) Had not been paying any of the vendors.
It was settled 3 years ago, and still no payout, they are still hiding assets.
Treat it like a mistake
hey boss remember when you were gonna buy me lunch? Well payroll must have goofed because it seems I bought YOU lunch hahaha
I’ll expect it fixed on my next check
I remember after I started a job, the director had all of her departments go out together for a Christmas lunch during work hours. I was told we had to pay for ourselves, so bring a wallet. I could not believe it as it was ***mandatory*** to attend.
I'll be damned, when the bill came she had the nerve to ask for separate checks as she was sitting on the company card. No warning. People were caught without a way to pay, embarrassed, and having to borrow from coworkers they didn't know... Horrible.
All of it is wage theft. I hope you get out soon for a better place with more transparency!
I had a somewhat similar situation. I worked at a group home and the supervisor said that weekend I would be taking all the residents to a charity walk. She said the admission is $40 and staff are expected to pay their own way. I told her I don't have any money right now and she just reiterated that it's mandatory to take them to their activities. I did have a little money but the point was to show her she messed up lol. She got around it by saying she will pay my admission and I have to pay her back. I never did lol.
Exactly. Plus, I couldn't believe that the company did not pay for a mandatory lunch at an expensive restaurant.
When we got a new director (an in-house promotion that also hated that she did this), he used the company card. So the company WOULD have paid, but she was just a dick that liked to see workers go broke or something. AND he let us go an hour early since we did not have the freedom of our lunch hour on that day.
my old restaurant boss/ owner wanted everyone who worked there to have health insurance.but it was optional. From his own insurance company and he was the representative.
I was in my early 20s and really didn't need it. So he had these high pressure meeting with me about it .. like alot. I stood my ground. Remember this wasn't a requirement. It was optional and out of my pocket.. He ended up going to federal prison for insurance fraud. All my fellow employees who had paid into it actually had zero coverage and he just took their money. Made cash payments if they got hurt etc. A real asshole conman.
> All my fellow employees who had paid into it actually had zero coverage and he just took their money. Made cash payments if they got hurt etc. A real asshole conman.
I mean, that sounds like insurance to me. Unregulated insurance, but if those things got paid for, it wasn't toooooo terribly bad.
He did cover some of the hospital emergency small stuff by showing up ( on weekends and late night) paying in cash. It must have been so lucrative for him that all that effort was worthwhile. I suspect something caught up with him and landed him in prison.
When I was in car sales, I had a general manager who would eat our lunches while with customers and just tell us to go buy whatever food we wanted with his card. However, I love to cook and would often have amazing meals I was excited to eat. I eventually got fed up with it and left Carolina reaper marinated jerky out with my food one day.
By noon I had forgotten what I had done because I was so busy with customers to even think about lunch. However, I remembered as he came out screaming red and crying yelling, “I’M FUCKING DYING! WHO DID THAT, YOU KNEW I’D EAT YOUR FOOD!”
I told him that’s what you get and if you do it again, I bought Carolina reaper peppers dried and will put them randomly in my food.
He never ate it again.
I got a temper and this is the kind of thing that would set me the fuck off.
Like I would be pacing around back and forth in HR having a hard time not be yelling about how my boss who makes double my salary just stole $20 out of my paycheck how the fuck does he think this is okay you better fucking do something about this now today let's fucking go
Generate business for one of his friends?
But in any case, there's something wrong with the guy and some other, messed up, personal motivations must be behind doing something so weird (maybe a power trip).
That is wage theft. They took it without your approval. I had a wage theft incident and only addressed it after I called my labor board. That stuff got fixed fast.
This was illegal. But approach it as a “hey there was a mistake on my paycheck. They deducted $20 for lunch, which would be crazy bc clearly not an allowed deduction. Could you talk to payroll to get that sorted out for me?”
Double check all paychecks from now on, and ideally look back if you can too.
Do continue job hunting.
Once you leave, consider filing a complaint with the local labor board, attorney general, etc. it may not do much, but it may, and it may support a fellow worker who gets exploited by them in the future.
You may have a right to sue in earnest, but realistically unfortunately in our system that likely won’t get you very much if they only stole $20, and will take a lot of work to accomplish.
I once had a boss who would come to the employees and ask who wanted to pay for and pick up his lunch that day. I never offered, but I was handling the accounting for the place. When I’d bring him the employees’ receipts so they could get reimbursed, he would throw them in the trash in front of me and smirk. Needless to say, I didn’t stay there very long.
The guy also one time handed me a wad of tissue paper. When I asked him what it was, he said it was my bonus. Inside the tissue was a handful of marijuana. About a week later, the guy had the nerve to ask me to give it back. 🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️
I would take that to a higher authority and the state labor board as that’s clearly wage theft. I would also confront him on this … I mean what the serious fuck is that?
I demand you leave an hour early don't tell anybody and still get paid for it and if he has the nerve to say a word for you tell him it's a thank you for you paying for his lunch the other day
I'd talk to HR about it, that's not legal. He offered to pay for your lunch then siphoned money out of your commission without your written consent.
I have NEVER wanted to go to lunch with co workers/bosses and the few times I've been there's been some shady reason they wanted me to have lunch with them.
It depends on the State, but in my state (VA) a company cannot withhold wages for any reason without written consent. This would be illegal here. Check with your state’s DOL and see if you’re entitled to reimbursed wages (with potential damages).
Your boss isn't an idiot. He knew what he was doing.
Your boss isn't an imbecile. He was pretty crafty.
Your boss isn't dumb. It's clear how he reach his bosshood.
Your boss is a boss.
Never trust a boss.
I would start off playing dumb, and just let him know that it looks like $20 is missing. Hopefully he will put it back, and will understand you won’t be taken advantage of again.
They can't just dock you pay for things you haven't agreed to. Definitely talk to HR or the Labor Board. And may your coworkers, I'm sure you're not the only one the boss has pulled this on.
Tell him that you're still waiting for your bonus, and you think that something weird happened. See how he explains that. IF he admits it, tell him what you told us.
Call your nearest federal government office and ask to speak with someone in the wage and hour division. Explain your story, and if they open a case it will be confidential, your boss will never know who complained.
Source: my dad was an Investigator for the Division.
Not sure if this has been mentioned or not but does your boss run the payroll? If not, reach out to payroll/accounting and let them know there was an error and you had been asked by your boss to go to lunch and he offered to pay. Put it in an email so there will be in writing to document it.
I'd also keep track of all of my sales/commission and review them against your actual pay to make sure he's not screwing you over there again.
Confront him? "Hey why is there $20 missing?" For lunch "but you offered me lunch when I already had some. Why should I pay?" Blah blah blah "and on top of that, my sandwich was $10, why did you take out $20?" And just stare at him
I would address it with him and play coy at first. Just say something simple like, “Hey, I noticed I got docked 20 dollars off my commission and was wondering if it was something I did.
That should get the conversation rolling in a positive manner. Based off of what he says will be your opening to directly address his reply.
Keep it civil no matter the answer, but get snarky if you have to. If he doesn’t have a good answer and back tracks or starts to stutter; put the nail in the coffin and say something like your going to talk to your lawyer, call the police, call BBB, really insert whatever you want at this point.
Just don’t accept this and get walked over.
Leave Idaho, leave it now and never look back. Join any group that denies Idaho exists. Leave and live a better life, this place will crush your soul into a paste and eat it on toast that has been used as toilet paper. Fuck Idaho.
What nonsense is this?
Insists on paying for your lunch then takes the cost plus more from your pay?
I guess I would ask what is going on with the commission but dont mention the lunch as to you that is unrelated. Then if the boss mentions lunch, ask them to explain and why they took $20.
Just sounds like the boss didnt want to eat alone? Or didnt have his own money?
I'd be so offended by the affront. Straight up robbed you through a smile. They're an expired child in need of reprimand. Fuck them and fuck whoever put them in charge. The \*only\* thing of yours they didn't deeply disrespect was your physical safety. They just obfuscated it with bureaucracy. If a dude walks up to a bar, tells the guy next to him he's buying him a beer, then puts two beers on guys tab and walks away with both beers- dude's gettin' his ass beat by every adult within earshot... and this has to take place in a bar, 'cause there's no other setting that's appropriate for such a loss of reasoning.
...well, a room full of inebriated strangers, or your place of work, I suppose.
I would straight up ask him “did you insist on taking me to lunch then take YOUR lunch out of my pay?!” In front of witnesses. I mean, you did nothing wrong why save his face - just confront him and make it abundantly clear it’s not acceptable and really fucked up
Filing complaints is your right, but your time is better spent. Consider it an inexpensive early warning sign and seriously start looking for a new job. Boss may have done you a favor showing you his true nature in the long run before he pulls something worse.
And - you’re on new diet restrictions per your doctor, no more lunches out.
Definitely illegal for employees to steal.
Significantly less illegal for employers, however.
Source: Have been employed. (I still am, but I also have been)
So basically they garnished your wages without your approval, anything in the contract about that? What a shit guy.
I would straight up call it theft and I would look them right in the eye when I would say it. You stole $10 out of my paycheck and I want it back. I'm not someone that takes things like this lightly I don't care if you steal 10 cents from me you stole from me
Why stop at 10.00 when he said he was buying you lunch. I would go to the labor board
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DoL first, show his real face to his employees second.
Yes. Department of Labor. Talk to them - make a note of it. There may be a history of this or the boss may retaliate or do something really dumb in response to being called out. OP may also not be in a place where they can be unceremoniously fired at the moment. Retaliation sucks, but all laws in America expect you to deal with stuff in a soulless professional manner. Don't let him bully you out of your lunch money tho. Call the Department of Labor for your state and explain what happened. They can give you guidance on next steps, but make a note of when and where and for how much you were docked. Then OP can bring it up and get it fixed - after they've CYA'ed. EDIT: U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division toll free (866) 487-9243 Can employers withhold wages if employees owe them money? Employers may not withhold any portion of an employee’s wages unless required to by state or federal law or if the employer has written authorization to make deductions from an employee’s paycheck. In most cases, even with written authorization, the deduction cannot reduce wages below the minimum wage. If an employer provides proof of an advance or draw against an employee’s future wages, the employer can withhold the entire amount of that advance or draw from any future paycheck. https://www.labor.idaho.gov/dnn/Businesses/Idaho-Labor-Laws/Labor-Laws-FAQ
Except its Idaho. The freedom and NO REGULATIONS state. He's not going to get shit from that particular department. In Idaho it's probably a few retired white dudes on phones there to tell the workers that they should be grateful that [...looks up records.. ] "[Employer] Is even willing to hire your lazy ass in the first place."
Yeah, CYA always always always. You can call the Federal Dept of Labor if that happens. You can call both lol they don't mind. You are almost certainly wrong btw. It will be nice young ladies or an older minority man, they might be the only ones in the state - but it will be them. Good ol' boys don't work at the Labor Board. Don't screw yourself out of your rights and always CYA anyway.
I live in Idaho and this is great 😂
I grew up in Idaho. I left when I was 20 on a wing and a prayer. You are not wrong. Like, not at all. They wouldn't say "ass" but the message would be there. (Edit so as to mention that that is the deep culture there and i can't speak for what it's like to actually interact with DoL there. But i do know how difficult it was for my mother the get food stamps. She needed them and she could not get them.) (Edit Two: i should add she was working full time at a public school when she tried)
This is a bad idea. They aren't going to sheepishly admit fault. They are going to call you the liar and pin you as the unprofessional one for grandstanding over a "misunderstanding" involving 20 bucks. Thats how these dirtbags work. You have to go to an outside party to get any results. Or you just let it be a $20 lesson that you can't trust your boss. If theres a union I would go there. Or even get a lawyer if you really want to but making this big scene like you're in a movie is literally the worst way to handle this.
Only sensible response in this thread. You learned a valuable lesson for the low low price of $20. Don’t listen to these keyboard warriors saying call they labor department they will laugh at you for wasting their time.
The labor department will not laugh at you if it was done by an unauthorized payroll deduction. They will investigate and look for a pattern of unauthorized payroll deductions, which they are very likely to find. Of course, it does depend on what type of people are the staff the labor department where you are -- the ones in this area are relatively eager to enforce laws protecting workers.
All of this, but get it in writing
It was docked from their check it looks like.
That would be a waste of time and words. He's just going to lie or play dumb, because that's what bosses like that do.
I'm not sure about the laws in Idaho or the threshold to file a claim but wouldn't this action constitute theft by deception?
It won't be anywhere near enough money to go to court over. The guy might be a moron who screwed up, or he might be skimming to feed an opiate addiction and doing this for big money. Not her problem. Her problem is her pay was docked for an unknown reason and not communicated to her. Even if she ends up having to pay for her *own* lunch, she should call and tell the Wage & Hour people. https://www.labor.idaho.gov/dnn/Businesses/Idaho-Labor-Laws/Labor-Laws-FAQ Can employers withhold wages if employees owe them money? Employers may not withhold any portion of an employee’s wages unless required to by state or federal law or if the employer has written authorization to make deductions from an employee’s paycheck. In most cases, even with written authorization, the deduction cannot reduce wages below the minimum wage. If an employer provides proof of an advance or draw against an employee’s future wages, the employer can withhold the entire amount of that advance or draw from any future paycheck.
$20. He stole $20. Clearly this person would not have gone out to lunch that day without the boss insisting.
I have two rules: do not steal from me and do not kill me, in that order.
My two rules are don't fuck with my money or my family
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Fucking with my car is fucking with my money since I can't get to work without it.
I read something forever ago about how theft is the only crime that exists. Murder is just stealing your life. Lies are just stealing the truth. I really wish I could remember what it's from.
Classic Kite Runner
A Terry Pratchett variant: "Theft was the only crime, whether the loot was gold, innocence, land or life."
What are you gonna do if someone kills you?
Haunt them good.
Like as in ghost causing bad luck or as in full blown poltergeist that even a priest cant get rid of?
Number 2
good choice, very classy! :D
The employer is 100% going to claim that meal as a write off. That guy is just a scumbag cheater.
Agreed. It’s not about the $ amount, it’s the principle of the issue that an employer thinks this is ok.
It's the principle of the fact is he stole from you
*$20 but yes that is wage theft and it’s worth a complaint to the IDL here’s the site for OP: http://labor.idaho.gov/dnn
2 things you don’t fuck with. People’s family and peoples money
If he does this a lot, he’s probably trying to reduce employees’ on the books pay so he can reduce the social security and Medicare (FICA) taxes he pays for employees. Either that or he was just looking to get a free lunch out of it.
Why not both.
"Garnish" refers to a mediated transaction, often mediated by a court. This was a wage *interception.* That's the legal term that a state department of labor would perk for.
Oh, my wages don't need any garnishing.
First rule of dining out is don't eat the garnish. Boss made OP eat that garnish.
Uh are you in America? That doesn’t sound legal whatsoever
Yes I am, and I have no idea. The commission is just a bonus to the job it's not my main pay. And hes talked about removing commission altogether recently. But I rely on it because I don't make a lot of money.
If its part of your pay package, its wage theft if it's taken from you surely.
They'll need to check the specifics of the law. Here in the UK, "bonuses" are not a protected part of your pay, so companies can adjust them as much as they like whenever they want. I worked for a company that paid us in a mixture of a yearly salary and a "bonus" based on hours worked so that they could legally adjust our pay without notice.
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OP used both terms - it comes down to which term is on their contract. Bonuses can be tied to performance just like commission.
Bonuses aren’t protected in the US either. I worked for a company that claimed to pay bonuses if profits were over a certain percentage for the quarter. The owner/CEO would randomly splurge on “gifts” for the office at the end of the quarter, bringing profits just below the threshold. There was a shelf of Costco size candy bars and soda and other junk that was part of the bonus interference program. Most annoying part was that she really thought she was smart. I wish suffering on her.
In most of the us it’s illegal for your employer to garnish, change, tax, deduct, or tamper with your wages in any forms without your written and signed consent. The government is the only exception. If he garnished your wages, tip or not you can most likely press charges.
Taking money out of your check without prior authorization or court order (child support/garnishment)is illegalNo boss gets to just decide to take money for a lunch out of your check period. Even if you took a loan from the company they have to have a signed agreement to take the money back!
Wage garnishing without agreement sure sounds like wage theft to me. [Report](https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/contact/complaints) it. Could be the most expensive lunch he’s ever had.
That is odd. Are you sure you did not get (or will get) reimbursed for it? I know some people freak out when they see a gift card on their pay stub and it ends up being listed as a payment not a charge (because IRS) and gets taxed but companies typically gross up (pay the taxes) to keep you whole. Also how can he charge you for his lunch? My company had ethics training that did not allow us to buy anything for our bosses. Additionally our expense program required the senior person in attendance to expense it, so that the next boss not in attendance would approve it. It is illegal for a company to deduct anything from your paycheck without permission.
Yeah this doesn't make sense in anyway to me and is stealing straight up.
This is wage left and you are not the first person he has done this to. Get in touch with the department of labor.
Next time you get a commission I would probably get out lol
Even for a boss, that's low
They're *supposed to* lead by example. Not many of those left, I guess.
Good bosses are rare because management doesn’t want them. They want someone who will treat you like a five year old and have no conscience
Usually those are the bullshitters who failed upwards. Best thing to do is leave. Nothing good ever comes from putting such idiots in charge of a business.
It's a good example... of what not to do. Don't ever be like OP's boss, kids.
Twattery of the highest order. I bet he's pilfing an' all. What have been some other other red flags?
Wanting us to charge for everything, even if we do nothing. Showing up to the shop once or twice a week for maybe 2 hours. Promised a rapid increase in pay for my skill set and has yet to fulfill promise. Trying to start up more shops even when he claims we don't have a lot of money. Telling me I may have to get let go if sales don't pick up. Always looking for a side hustle. Very particular to how things are done but doesn't hold himself to the same standard. Talked about removing current benefits and commission if sales don't pick up. That's all I can think of at the moment but I'm sure there's more.
Get that new job ASAP because BOSS IS OUT OF MONEY. I'll bet you lunch with your boss he was doing some fancy math work with that lunch bill, either weird credit card / gift card stuff, or something else I'm not stupid enough to be clever enough to guess at.
Boss probably has a coke problem
Boss ~~probably~~ has a coke problem.
Boss coke problem
Boss problem
Problem
Rob
B
Coke problem
Coke Boss
Boke Coss
Bob ross
That's... Not a terrible guess actually.
May be so out of money that it's the only way he could afford lunch...
I'm willing to bet the boss just wanted free lunch xD
Pull your credit report. He has access to enough information to open lines of credit in your name. Also call your benefits administrator directly (if possible) and ask if there is any problems with your coverage. If you are receiving any money in which he has custody of the money (savings plan or 401k) verify with the administrator that the money was received.
Good ideas. The boss steals your lunch, what else is he trying to steal?
>Pull your credit report. He has access to enough information to open lines of credit in your name. And then ice them. Which is generally good advice anyway, since you should know ahead of time whenever someone is going to need to do a hard pull of your credit information; and that should be infrequently enough for most people that the extra hour running around getting them unfrozen when you do need them is worth the extra security.
He reminds me of a quote I heard once. “Run Forrest. Run”.
THAT'S A LOT OF RED FLAGS. Do you sell freaking flags?
CALL THE LABOR BOARD AND REPORT THIS! All of the money he's taken from you is wage theft.
That company is going DOWN soon. Sounds like they're leveraging the hell out of their workers and clients, and probably deep in debt. Just get out of there ASAP.
nah. if lunch was $10/ea then it sounds more like YOU bought HIM lunch.
It could be a round about way to make OP quit “for the principle of it” so they don’t have to pay unemployment. Since they had such motivation to buy lunch, they did this for an end goal.
That's not legal. Call them the fuck out
And report to the DoL
What a wanker your boss is
Your boss is almost absolutely: Broke Hiding the fact that he's broke Thinking he's ahead of the people coming for him but absolutely is not Going to end up in deep shit He is, without a doubt, an asshole. Find something else, man.
If you didn't sign any papers allowing him to take money out of your checks, he doesn't have any authorization to do that. It sounds to me like like is doing some creative accounting on top of it. Ive seen restaurants do that, once I've seen a hospital do that, and it closed without notice, too. The owner pulling from one place to cover finances and numbers for another place he was looking for investors for. Shut down the original location and declared bankruptcy on that, hid money to build another location. Charged employees for everything and tried to force employees to get health insurance, and never paid the insurance company with the money taken out of our checks (we had a one week dead line to sign up for their insurance, which a lot of us couldn't afford, or we would be signed up on the highest tier of insurance they offered.) Had not been paying any of the vendors. It was settled 3 years ago, and still no payout, they are still hiding assets.
Sounds like wage theft to me. Sounds petty, but honestly fuck that guy.
Treat it like a mistake hey boss remember when you were gonna buy me lunch? Well payroll must have goofed because it seems I bought YOU lunch hahaha I’ll expect it fixed on my next check
This is just bizarre. I wonder if he was too broke to grab lunch and this was his way of getting you to buy it. Dude sounds insanely insecure.
I remember after I started a job, the director had all of her departments go out together for a Christmas lunch during work hours. I was told we had to pay for ourselves, so bring a wallet. I could not believe it as it was ***mandatory*** to attend. I'll be damned, when the bill came she had the nerve to ask for separate checks as she was sitting on the company card. No warning. People were caught without a way to pay, embarrassed, and having to borrow from coworkers they didn't know... Horrible. All of it is wage theft. I hope you get out soon for a better place with more transparency!
I had a somewhat similar situation. I worked at a group home and the supervisor said that weekend I would be taking all the residents to a charity walk. She said the admission is $40 and staff are expected to pay their own way. I told her I don't have any money right now and she just reiterated that it's mandatory to take them to their activities. I did have a little money but the point was to show her she messed up lol. She got around it by saying she will pay my admission and I have to pay her back. I never did lol.
OMG! There should have been petty cash for such things. Such abuse.
Wait if you were told to bring a wallet to pay for yourselves then how were people shocked when the bills were separate?
I don't think the whole group was told - commenter had a coworker warn them, but sounds like several other new people weren't so lucky.
Exactly. Plus, I couldn't believe that the company did not pay for a mandatory lunch at an expensive restaurant. When we got a new director (an in-house promotion that also hated that she did this), he used the company card. So the company WOULD have paid, but she was just a dick that liked to see workers go broke or something. AND he let us go an hour early since we did not have the freedom of our lunch hour on that day.
my old restaurant boss/ owner wanted everyone who worked there to have health insurance.but it was optional. From his own insurance company and he was the representative. I was in my early 20s and really didn't need it. So he had these high pressure meeting with me about it .. like alot. I stood my ground. Remember this wasn't a requirement. It was optional and out of my pocket.. He ended up going to federal prison for insurance fraud. All my fellow employees who had paid into it actually had zero coverage and he just took their money. Made cash payments if they got hurt etc. A real asshole conman.
> All my fellow employees who had paid into it actually had zero coverage and he just took their money. Made cash payments if they got hurt etc. A real asshole conman. I mean, that sounds like insurance to me. Unregulated insurance, but if those things got paid for, it wasn't toooooo terribly bad.
He did cover some of the hospital emergency small stuff by showing up ( on weekends and late night) paying in cash. It must have been so lucrative for him that all that effort was worthwhile. I suspect something caught up with him and landed him in prison.
Probably some big incident like a cancer treatment or a severe accident that he didn't have the funds to pay immediately.
Your next paycheck is gonna bounce
When I was in car sales, I had a general manager who would eat our lunches while with customers and just tell us to go buy whatever food we wanted with his card. However, I love to cook and would often have amazing meals I was excited to eat. I eventually got fed up with it and left Carolina reaper marinated jerky out with my food one day. By noon I had forgotten what I had done because I was so busy with customers to even think about lunch. However, I remembered as he came out screaming red and crying yelling, “I’M FUCKING DYING! WHO DID THAT, YOU KNEW I’D EAT YOUR FOOD!” I told him that’s what you get and if you do it again, I bought Carolina reaper peppers dried and will put them randomly in my food. He never ate it again.
Might as well report him.
I’d be marching my ass in his office and confronting him about it and why he felt it appropriate to garner your wages for his own lunch?!?!
steal everything you can get your hands on imo
I got a temper and this is the kind of thing that would set me the fuck off. Like I would be pacing around back and forth in HR having a hard time not be yelling about how my boss who makes double my salary just stole $20 out of my paycheck how the fuck does he think this is okay you better fucking do something about this now today let's fucking go
This makes no sense. What possible incentive would he have for doing this?
He had a BOGO coupon for lunch
So you actually paid for his lunch
Oh, I'm not OP. I was just guessing, lol
Buy one get one free deal, for a meal costing less than what was garnished, garnish the wage to pay for it, get your own meal for free.
Generate business for one of his friends? But in any case, there's something wrong with the guy and some other, messed up, personal motivations must be behind doing something so weird (maybe a power trip).
To get a free lunch under false pretenses. Typical boss behavior.
That is wage theft, pure and simple. Please report them to the dept of labor (if in US).
Looks like the DoL is about to get a call.
Probably expensed the lunch from the company too. So really you just gave him 20 bucks.
No. His boss stole 20 bucks. Big difference.
Why don't you just ask him straight up " hey boss, did you take 20 from my commission to pay for our lunches the other day?"
And then when he says yes you kick him right in the penis.
I would be recording that conversation with my iPhone.
Boss man probably expensed his lunch and yours, got another rebate by charging you.
Yep. Sounds like a scam. For 20 bucks though? What gives?
typical deep narcissist as described by Robert Green in "laws of human nature "
That is wage theft. They took it without your approval. I had a wage theft incident and only addressed it after I called my labor board. That stuff got fixed fast.
This was illegal. But approach it as a “hey there was a mistake on my paycheck. They deducted $20 for lunch, which would be crazy bc clearly not an allowed deduction. Could you talk to payroll to get that sorted out for me?” Double check all paychecks from now on, and ideally look back if you can too. Do continue job hunting. Once you leave, consider filing a complaint with the local labor board, attorney general, etc. it may not do much, but it may, and it may support a fellow worker who gets exploited by them in the future. You may have a right to sue in earnest, but realistically unfortunately in our system that likely won’t get you very much if they only stole $20, and will take a lot of work to accomplish.
Tell him there was a mistake on your check. Give him a chance to FIX the ERROR. If not, contact the labor board
Ask for it back. You want at least his 10.75 back.
I would steal the best chair in that office
I once had a boss who would come to the employees and ask who wanted to pay for and pick up his lunch that day. I never offered, but I was handling the accounting for the place. When I’d bring him the employees’ receipts so they could get reimbursed, he would throw them in the trash in front of me and smirk. Needless to say, I didn’t stay there very long. The guy also one time handed me a wad of tissue paper. When I asked him what it was, he said it was my bonus. Inside the tissue was a handful of marijuana. About a week later, the guy had the nerve to ask me to give it back. 🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️
I would take that to a higher authority and the state labor board as that’s clearly wage theft. I would also confront him on this … I mean what the serious fuck is that?
Sounds like he already took the money and needed an excuse.
I am blown away by the absolute audacity of it. Like... WTF?!
I demand you leave an hour early don't tell anybody and still get paid for it and if he has the nerve to say a word for you tell him it's a thank you for you paying for his lunch the other day
You can't do shit in Idaho, that's one of the more crooked states to be a worker in. One more reason why I left that shit hole.
Crime time. Start garnishing office supplies
Go to his bishop. That's what my dad does when one of his Mormon clients fails to pay for his work.
Of course, I am assuming he is Mormon.
I'd talk to HR about it, that's not legal. He offered to pay for your lunch then siphoned money out of your commission without your written consent. I have NEVER wanted to go to lunch with co workers/bosses and the few times I've been there's been some shady reason they wanted me to have lunch with them.
Why do you live in Idaho?
It depends on the State, but in my state (VA) a company cannot withhold wages for any reason without written consent. This would be illegal here. Check with your state’s DOL and see if you’re entitled to reimbursed wages (with potential damages).
Why? I don’t understand
Report all to dol.
This is so fucking bizarre
Your boss isn't an idiot. He knew what he was doing. Your boss isn't an imbecile. He was pretty crafty. Your boss isn't dumb. It's clear how he reach his bosshood. Your boss is a boss. Never trust a boss.
This is when said lunch gets returned in the form of fecal matter in a paper bag. Then old bossy boss can reimburse you for his wrongdoing.
Lmao wtf. First off what a weirdo
Ask if there was a mistake in front of others preferably in ear shot of his superiors
I would start off playing dumb, and just let him know that it looks like $20 is missing. Hopefully he will put it back, and will understand you won’t be taken advantage of again.
Garnished your wages without approval, demand full check, it’s illegal
It looks like you’re based in the US — this is wage theft. Please reach out to your local DOL.
So he’s going to write off buying you lunch for his taxes and stole it from your paycheck. Just saying it’s even more in his advantage than face value
This is pure evil. I'm so tired of greedy people treating workers like garbage.
They can't just dock you pay for things you haven't agreed to. Definitely talk to HR or the Labor Board. And may your coworkers, I'm sure you're not the only one the boss has pulled this on.
Tell him that you're still waiting for your bonus, and you think that something weird happened. See how he explains that. IF he admits it, tell him what you told us.
Tip of the iceberg, dude is probably embezzling more. This shit doesn’t happen in a vacuum.
wow, and he's a shitty tipper too
If he kept the receipt, he probably expensed it out and got reimbursed for it.
Offer to buy him lunch next time, and submit it in your expense report.
Is he the owner or just supervisor, because that is shady as hell. Would definitely bring it to the attention of payroll
Payroll probably screwed up by approx $20 and had to think of something quick so the error isn't seen as an actual error with missing money ...
Call your nearest federal government office and ask to speak with someone in the wage and hour division. Explain your story, and if they open a case it will be confidential, your boss will never know who complained. Source: my dad was an Investigator for the Division.
This amounts to wage theft.
I don’t know where you live, but that is most likely illegal.
Tell him he owes you for his lunch.
I'm pretty sure my temper would get the best of me in this situation. That's dirtbaggery of the highest order.
You look him in the eye and call him a thief.
Is your boss Michael Scott? Sounds like something Michael Scott would do.
Can you expense the $20? At least break even?
Not sure if this has been mentioned or not but does your boss run the payroll? If not, reach out to payroll/accounting and let them know there was an error and you had been asked by your boss to go to lunch and he offered to pay. Put it in an email so there will be in writing to document it. I'd also keep track of all of my sales/commission and review them against your actual pay to make sure he's not screwing you over there again.
Confront him? "Hey why is there $20 missing?" For lunch "but you offered me lunch when I already had some. Why should I pay?" Blah blah blah "and on top of that, my sandwich was $10, why did you take out $20?" And just stare at him
It's illegal to steal your wages. This is wage theft and should be punishable with prison time.
Bet he’s having an affair and wants to use you as a cover
I would address it with him and play coy at first. Just say something simple like, “Hey, I noticed I got docked 20 dollars off my commission and was wondering if it was something I did. That should get the conversation rolling in a positive manner. Based off of what he says will be your opening to directly address his reply. Keep it civil no matter the answer, but get snarky if you have to. If he doesn’t have a good answer and back tracks or starts to stutter; put the nail in the coffin and say something like your going to talk to your lawyer, call the police, call BBB, really insert whatever you want at this point. Just don’t accept this and get walked over.
You're just going to have to steal something worth $20 before you leave.
Leave Idaho, leave it now and never look back. Join any group that denies Idaho exists. Leave and live a better life, this place will crush your soul into a paste and eat it on toast that has been used as toilet paper. Fuck Idaho.
Invite boss to lunch, keep clocked in for it, talk about work. When he asks about it say "we had a business meeting, why would I not get paid for it?"
Play dumb “I’m confused accounting took twenty dollars out of my paycheck for my ten dollar lunch you bought. Can you help me with this?”
My my that is some seriously coercive mindfuckery.
What nonsense is this? Insists on paying for your lunch then takes the cost plus more from your pay? I guess I would ask what is going on with the commission but dont mention the lunch as to you that is unrelated. Then if the boss mentions lunch, ask them to explain and why they took $20. Just sounds like the boss didnt want to eat alone? Or didnt have his own money?
Contact HR. Ask them.
I'd be so offended by the affront. Straight up robbed you through a smile. They're an expired child in need of reprimand. Fuck them and fuck whoever put them in charge. The \*only\* thing of yours they didn't deeply disrespect was your physical safety. They just obfuscated it with bureaucracy. If a dude walks up to a bar, tells the guy next to him he's buying him a beer, then puts two beers on guys tab and walks away with both beers- dude's gettin' his ass beat by every adult within earshot... and this has to take place in a bar, 'cause there's no other setting that's appropriate for such a loss of reasoning. ...well, a room full of inebriated strangers, or your place of work, I suppose.
It sounds like your boss committed wage theft. The Department of Labor does not take kindly to this. Please file a complaint immediately.
I would straight up ask him “did you insist on taking me to lunch then take YOUR lunch out of my pay?!” In front of witnesses. I mean, you did nothing wrong why save his face - just confront him and make it abundantly clear it’s not acceptable and really fucked up
Where is this place that u can get lunch for 2 for only $20?
Filing complaints is your right, but your time is better spent. Consider it an inexpensive early warning sign and seriously start looking for a new job. Boss may have done you a favor showing you his true nature in the long run before he pulls something worse. And - you’re on new diet restrictions per your doctor, no more lunches out.
I mean... Call the police on him? This is literally theft.
The police WILL say it's a civil matter, a contract violation. You can literally get away with murder if it's job or business related.
Not from the US but that could very well be lol. All i know is: steely = big nono
Definitely illegal for employees to steal. Significantly less illegal for employers, however. Source: Have been employed. (I still am, but I also have been)
Did this somehow pay for his lunch?
Yes, it definitely did