Burnham Brown's Employment Team Obtains Another Favorable Decision from the Labor Commissioner

Plaintiff brought a claim before the Labor Commissioner for unpaid wages, interest and waiting time penalties. Plaintiff was terminated following an investigation that revealed a pattern and practice of leaving work hours before she was clocked out by another employee. As part of the investigation, plaintiff provided a voluntary written statement admitting to falsifying her time records, and signed a restitution agreement to repay her employer for her dishonest act. Plaintiff was given her final check and signed it over to her employer as part of her restitution agreement. Plaintiff sued to recover her final check claiming that her employer improperly kept her wages.

The Labor Commissioner, after hearing all of the evidence, ruled that the employer met its burden of proof to establish that plaintiff engaged in dishonest and willful misconduct thereby permitting the employer to make a deduction from the employee’s wages. The order from the Labor Commissioner was that plaintiff recover nothing from her employer.

This result demonstrates the need for employers to carefully document instances of gross negligence, willful misconduct or dishonesty which may justify deductions from an employee’s paycheck. In this case, plaintiff’s written admission, as well as the restitution agreement provided the employer with the means to defeat plaintiff’s claim.

September 2006