Ask Me Help Desk - Is this legal ?

I currently accepted a job where I was under the impression I was to travel out of my surrounding area.During this last holiday break I received a phone call from the human resources that my itenerary would be in the mail.When I returned from my out of town holiday visit.I indeed received an Itenerary for out of state travel.I tried to make arrangements forr child care.With no success.Therefore I declined the position with 3 days till my travel date.
Nevertheless my out of state accommodations were deducted from my check.Leaving me with a whole whopping 82$ for a weeks worth of work.I was never informed I was obligated or never signed anything that would bind me to this company. Is this Legal:confused: :confused: :confused:
Bek

If they could not cancel parts of the trip, air fare, motels or the such.
Then it would, at least in my opinion to believe that the employee that did not keep their obligation to pay for it.

I travel often on business and while the company will pay for the costs, they would expect me to pay them back for any cost that was not justified.

I would wonder, why child care was not considered before taking a job that you knew was going to be out of town on a regular basis

Fr Chuck's points are good.

Can they deduct certain parts of the trip? Yes (that is, as long as they weren't able to cancel it).

Hi,
I agree with the other answers you have received. Yes, it is legal; cause the company could not recover their lost money, due to you not going.
I personally would look for another job. I do wish you good luck, and hang in there.

Did you have a employment contract with this company?

Deductions from your wages must be granted by some form of contract, W-4's, insurances, 401k, all are permitted by you by a signed contract.

If you have a employment contract then they can deduct the costs.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr.yet

Did you have a employment contract with this company?

Deductions from your wages must be granted by some form of contract, W-4's, insurances, 401k, all are permitted by you by a signed contract.

If you have a employment contract then they can deduct the costs.

Agree - it's only legal if you have a contract them. If there wasn't a contract, then I can't see they were at liberty to do that.

Assuming you are in the US, which you may not be, while there is no contract written in employment, there are many laws and rules. For example, you are to come to work at a certain time, the company may warn and fire you for not doing so. There is no "contract" but by accepting employment you are agreeing to follow current and any new company rules.

In such if you agreed to go on this trip, and the company expected you to go on this trip, they in turn spent money to arrange this trip and you cancel going at a notice where they can not change the plans and have expenses, they have a right to expect re-payment. If you were a long time employee that seldom missed anything, they may consider "eating" the cost but on a new employee I could not see them doing this. Also do you still have a job since most companies I know would most likely not continue your employment if on one of the first trips you were suppose to do you cancelled out.

And of course in the same light, if you had made arrangements and had costs preparing for the trip and they cancelled it, you could expect them to be liable for those costs you could not get out of.

It is a contract so to speak, since it was a verbal contract that you would go on this trip to represent the company.

I will say this will be one of dozens of working horror stories you will have over your carrerr, most people who have worked in any form of sales or management have them. A few of mine.

1. Ordered to lie to everyone about the plant closing for a few weeks, and then come in one Friday and tell everyone to go home and not come back

2. Fire about 30 people who was scared of the snow starting and wanted to go home.

3. Had a written contract but the company sold one month prior to the end of the year and new company would not honor our year in bonus

4. ordered to fire one receptionist because she looked fatter than the owner wanted up front in his company

5. track employee use of bath room time, actually use a stop watch and see how long they wasted each day

6. Given a list of certain employees and told to find a reason any reason to fire them.

7. And my list goes on and on and on.

The basis is most companies watch out today for thierself, they have little loyaity to employees and the profit and loss statement makes the rules.
You will find that as an employee even written contracts mean little, but having none means less. If you are in sales or management you should always have a contract, if not, they can change the rules as they wish.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bekchave

I currently accepted a job where I was under the impression I was to travel out of my surrounding area.During this last holiday break I received a phone call from the human resources that my itenerary would be in the mail.When I returned from my out of town holiday visit.I indeed recieved an Itenerary for out of state travel.I tried to make arrangements forr child care.With no success.Therefore I declined the position with 3 days till my travel date.
Nevertheless my out of state accomodations were deducted from my check.Leaving me with a whole whopping 82$ for a weeks worth of work.I was never informed I was obligated or never signed anything that would bind me to this company. Is this Legal:confused: :confused: :confused:
Bek

If you are in the UK - then you have to have a written contract, which is both signed by you and by the company before they can do anything.

My friend accepted a new job - was due to start on the Monday and phoned them on that day to say she would not be joining them after all (as she had changed her mind about the job) - no contract had been signed - so there was no action that could be taken against her.

Verbal agreements don't count as there is no way of proving them.

However I cannot comment on the US or other countries.

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.

[See also Rule 821.28.]

LINK: http://www.employmentlawadvisors.com...om_wages_.html

US Department of Labor Link:
http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/wages/garnishments.htm

Acts 1993, 73rd Leg. ch. 269, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1993.

I agree with a lot of the answers here but I could not help wondering would this company have done the same thing if the employee had been taken very ill or hospitalized? If no contractual agreement was signed by the two parties involved then they had no right to take any money from the money earned without permission, They should have paid the full amount and then asked for the employee to pay them back and produced a written invoice or statement for the costs they wished payment for.Although I am in the U.K and laws do differ from Country to Country the contractual law in both u.k. and U.S.A. are more or less the same. You should may be check with an advice centre or employment exchange they would be able to help you.

Ty

Quote:

Originally Posted by tyieka

I agree with a lot of the answers here but I could not help wondering would this company have done the same thing if the employee had been taken very ill or hospitalized? If no contractual agreement was signed by the two parties involved then they had no right to take any money from the money earned without permission, They should have paid the full amount and then asked for the employee to pay them back and produced a written invoice or statement for the costs they wished payment for.Although I am in the U.K and laws do differ from Country to Country the contractual law in both u.k. and U.S.A. are more or less the same. You should may be check with an advice centre or employment exchange they would be able to help you.

ty

Exactly! Nicely put!