By how much can an employer dock you for being late?

Question

Recently, my boss made up a new rule that states for every minute an employee is late they get a dollar taker off there paycheck. So if an employee is 15 minutes late, thats 15 dollars off their paycheck. I was doing some research and by law he can dock employee's pay for being late, but I dont get paid a dollar a minute, I get paid $9 hourly. By that logic, if I am 18 minuetes late, this means he can dock me for two hours worth of pay. So while understand that my employer can dock my pay, is it legal for him to dock pay for more than the designated late time?

Answer 1

Sounds illegal, but he is being nice. He can fire you for being late and you will get no unemployment.

If no one breaks the rules, no one has to worry.

Answer 2

he can dock you completely-fire you

Answer 3

I'm pretty sure you have to be paid for every minute you work.  

Answer 4

As you said, he "made up" the rule.

It's not legal.

You can complain to the local Labour standards office.

Or you can avoid the whole issue by not being late.  ;-)

Answer 5

Its a variable but your employer cannot make up such rules even in certain states , you should contract the labor board in your state for reference. Any rules not written before hiring and expressedly shown or posted or signed by the employee is worthless. Don't take direct action until you have more info.

Answer 6

To cover me since everyone has a lawyer, I cover this in my written polices.

People who cannot follow the rules always want to sue.

If he can show this by having it in writing or a long policy of doing this to all employees, he is good to go.  

Answer 7

If the net goes below the minimum wage, then there is trouble.  Otherwise, he is offering a variable rate of pay, with more being offered to those who show up on time and less being offered to those who chose their own hours.   The usual accounting period under federal law is one week.  So, if you keep showing up late and end up getting less than the minimum wage, he has violated the law.  Of course, you also get fired for being late so much, but that was not your question.

Answer 8

If it's not a policy you agreed to when you were hired, then no he can't legally do it. But, you also must remember that under most employment policies he can also fire you.. for anything he chooses. Ugh. Good Luck!