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The maintenance guy at the hotel where I work lives on premises. He is salaried and earns less than $30,000 per year. He's on call 24/7 and rarely takes a day off. The owners still make him pay $25.00 per day for his room. He pays child support among other bills and hasn't been able to pay the full balance on his room. It's now above $2,000.
Today was payday and I found out that the hotel manager (not the owner) KEPT his paycheck and intends to put the entire thing toward his balance.
While I agree that he should be paying the amount (even though I feel they shouldn't be making him pay at all, for everything he does around here) is it legal for them to do this? I haven't been able to find any information online and would love to hear from anyone who may have information on this.
This hotel is extremely shady to begin with, but I can overlook most of the $hitty things they do to employees. This, however, infuriates me. How is this man going to eat? Much less pay his child support? I'd just like to know if there's anything I can do about this situation.
I do realize it's his own fault for letting the amount build up but I don't see how an employer can just KEEP a paycheck like that
Couple of things. First child support is based on pay, he should be paying this and have his money left over. Second $25 a day is very cheap, it's $750 a month. He should therefore be able to pay he meals, child support and rent.
Now what ought the hotel do? I think that they're doing him a favor by not just kicking him onto the street and firing him, which is the alternative.
It may not be legal, but it's the best outcome for him. He obviously wasn't responsible with the little money he had, what should he get? A reward?
Couple of things. First child support is based on pay, he should be paying this and have his money left over. Second $25 a day is very cheap, it's $750 a month. He should therefore be able to pay he meals, child support and rent.
Now what ought the hotel do? I think that they're doing him a favor by not just kicking him onto the street and firing him, which is the alternative.
It may not be legal, but it's the best outcome for him. He obviously wasn't responsible with the little money he had, what should he get? A reward?
Right, I'm not questioning the ethics of his decisions, much less suggesting he receive an award. I'm just questioning whether an employer has the legal right to withhold an employee's paycheck. As I said in my OP, I understand that it was his own fault for allowing the balance to accumulate. I am simply trying to figure out if this is legal.
Now I found out that my manager gave him $300 cash and is still keeping the paycheck. I don't understand this! I guess it's nice of the manager to give him something, but I'm still shocked that they just withheld his paycheck like that, especially with all of the work he does around the building. On an hourly scale, he makes less than minimum wage! I guess I just can't see this from a business perspective
All they can do is sue him and garnish his paycheck, and the court won't give them 100 pct of it
Thanks, that's what I was thinking.
Any suggestions on where to go from here? I'm thinking of just getting him the number to Wisconsin's board of labor to see if they can do anything. Other than that, I don't know what to do or how to help. I guess I should just back out of it, but I hate seeing people being treated like $hit
Legally an employer cannot garnish wages unless they have been directed to do so by either court order or written permission from the worker themselves (typically for payment of insurance premiums or retirement plan contributions).
But practically speaking, if the guy owed the debt, its probably better for him to just keep the matter between him and the employer, rather than letting it go to court where it will then end up on his credit record. That kind of record will hurt his child custody, job prospects, housing prospects, and his credit limits and interest rates. Fighting the employer's actions is just digging him into a deeper hole.
The whole situation is very odd, though. Typically when a worker lives onsite, the employer pays them less to start out with to account for the value of the housing. Paying them a higher wage and then having the worker pay them back for housing is just more hassle and paperwork. If the housing wasn't part of the worker's compensation, then this guy was free to live some place else that was cheaper, if he couldn't afford the rent. If the latter is the case, this guy would be wise to find housing elsewhere, and keep his personal issues separate from work.
Unless the housing is a perk because the job does not pay enough to live somewhere even if he made the higher amount. Also 750$ a month is a non trivial amount unless you are professional making over 6 figures (but if that were the case I gauentee they would be taking more than 750$). These child support issues can get really sticky and generally if you are having to choose between living and child support our society would rather have you die on the streets than paying reduced child support. Our courts and society will rip you a new one with child support. If you have a kid with a woman regardless if you are married or not and if the female in the relationship decides to misbehave and cause the relationship to fail you might as well just plan on being boarder line homeless until the kid is 18. Maybe you could just walk across the country a few times like that one guy and rely on hand outs because thats about the quality of life you will have after child support is taken out of your pay check.
I guess in a way the silver linning is you will be more inclined to work a job you truely enjoy becuase money will literally not be an issue because if you make more money your child support just goes up you will never be able to build wealth so theres no point in doing anything that you even slightly dont enjoy.
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