HowdoIpress charges against my former employer for stealing my last paycheck?
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HowdoIpress charges against my former employer for stealing my last paycheck?
I quit my job to go to another job. My former employer put a hold on my check until they received their property back. I was a driver for them in a big truck. They got their truck back but now they are saying that they are going to pro-rate my check because the truck had 2 blowouts. As a company driver I never had to pay for the blowouts before so why now? I need to now what to do to make sure that I can get my check because I don’t see how they can keep my money that I earned. How do I go about this?
Asked on August 17, 2011 Texas
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 13 years ago | Contributor
You can sue your employer, possibly in small claims court, to recover the money they owe you. An employer may *not* unilterally decide to take damages or costs out of an employee's paycheck, whether the final paychek or otherwise. If the company thinks you owe them for the blowouts, they could sue you for the money, but they can't simply take it out of your pay.
However, while you can contact the police if you like, it is very doubtful that the authorities would consider this a criminal matter. While the employer is wrong in what it is doing, a violation of the labor law is not necessarily also a violation of criminal law, and it is very unlikely that the authorities would believe that the employere is acting in a criminal way or with criminal intent. This is more likely a civil dispute over what the employer is allowed to do to recover an asserted loss, and the proper venue is civil court, not criminal.
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