Employer is taking money of out pay check, lowered pay rate
Ask a Lawyer
Question
Country: United States of AmericaState: TennesseeHello, I just turned 18 years old. I used to work at a Subway, a place where subs are served, and I worked there from August 2005 to October 2005. I have gone through a lot of depression and very little sleep from what they did to me. These are the instances that happened that caused the ending of my job: On the day of November 1, 2004, My boyfriend drove me to my work so I can see my schedule for that week and when I saw the schedule, I was astonished to see that all the hours that I was supposed to work that week were marked out on the schedule. I immediately called my manager, David Hudson, to see what was wrong. He told me that there was $100 missing out of my cash drops. I knew that I always put in my cash drops in the safe, and if I did not have the time, I would put them in the cash register, which was what I told to do if we were busy. I asked my manager to review over the tapes over the days that were missing money, and he said that it was hard to tell. He also said that I am not allowed to work until they found the money that was missing, but that I was still an employee. It is hard for me to go without a job because I have to help pay rent because my mom is very ill and on disability. I am definitely not one to steal, and it hurts me deep inside that they would accuse me of doing that. I received my pay check on November 4, 2005 and came to see that they have taken out $100 out of it. I am not only worried about the money, but I am worried of what they accuse me of being. My mom contacted my manager one day while I was in school to talk to him about how much this has hurt me. She asked him if they had 100 percent proof and evidence that I did this and he said no but they wanted call the cops on me. I can not understand why they would do this to me. My mom told my manager that she does not want me to go through this anymore, and she told them that I am no longer working there. We did want to pursue legal action, but we are not able to afford it. So we decided we should try to forget it. Well today, November 20, 2005, my older sister was looking over my pay checks and noticed that on the pay check that they took the $100 away from me, that they also had lowered my pay rate. I was getting paid $6.40 an hour before this instance happened, and they lowered it down to minimum wage, which is $5.15. I heard that in the state of Tennessee, that if they lower your pay rate that you are to be told before they do it. I was not warned at all. Is this true? I do not deserve this. Please write me back, if you can, and tell me what you think I should do.