Witholding last paycheck?

[nomoneynomore]

We live in Kansas.

My hubby was terminated 2 weeks ago for his job with no reason given. (long story) He worked the additional two weeks that the boss requested. Our house & utilities were furnished by the employer & we have 10 days to be out. March 15th was payday & it went by without us seeing a check. We called the employer today & he said he is withholding the paycheck & the security deposit in case damage is done to the property before we leave this weekend & we can get it after we leave. Our rental agreement does state that they can withhold wages IF there is damage done to the property (big oops there, didn't see that when we read through it). There is no damage to the house, in fact, it is cleaner than it was when we moved in by far. I have pictures of when we moved in and will be taking pictures again when we move out.

Can they legally withhold a paycheck or do they have to pay him for hours worked then sue him for damages (if there were any)?

[tyson24]

Call the Dept of Labor. in your state, but I am not sure the fact that you signed that agreement would hold up unless you were like onsite landlords or something, where your residence was contingent on his work and vice versa.

Remember though, you may be able to muscle your way out of this but you did sign an agreement.

Not sure what the deal is when housing is offered as a perk of employment.

[obamaloan]

Hey,

What happens the small scripts on an agreement does hold people on the wrong edge. But don't worry if the house has no damages then they will not have any muscle withholding the pay check but if otherwise you can not do anything because you already signed the deal.

[malf1204]

Most states have a wage payment law and wages must be paid at the normal payday and CANNOT be withheld or have damages deducted. Here in Maryland the employer is liable for a $1000.00 fine and damages equal to 3 times the wages due plus 10% interest from the date they would have normally been paid. Maryland law also specifically states that no written agreement can waive this requirement and if the employer tried to have you sign one that is a violation in itself.

Kansas Law_
44-319. Withholding of wages. (a) No employer may withhold, deduct or divert any portion of an employee's wages unless: (1) The employer is required or empowered to do so by state or federal law; (2) the deductions are for medical, surgical or hospital care or service, without financial benefit to the employer, and are openly, clearly and in due course recorded in the employer's books; (3) the employer has a signed authorization by the employee for deductions for a lawful purpose accruing to the benefit of the employee; or (4) the deductions are for contributions attributable to automatic enrollment, as defined in K.S.A. 2010 Supp. 44-319a, and amendments thereto, in a retirement plan established by the employer described in sections 401(k), 403(b), 408, 408A or 457 of the internal revenue code.

(b) Nothing in this section shall be construed as prohibiting the withholding of amounts authorized in writing by the employee to be contributed by the employee to charitable organizations; nor shall this section prohibit deductions by check-off of dues to labor organizations or service fees, where such is not otherwise prohibited by law.

[malf1204]

Here is the link for the entire page-

http://www.dol.ks.gov/es/wagepay.html

[justbroke]

I would hope the laws in Kansas are not that archaic. In most right-to-work States, the employer must pay the wages unless there is some court order allowing them to withhold them. In any event, this may all be moot if the poster is able to move out quickly.

I would, as stated above, inquire with the Department of Labor for KS. They may have an interesting take on this.

[malf1204]

I am not sure I would characterize strong wage payment laws as archaic perhaps a strong deterrent. My wife is from Ukraine and in her country it is common for some employers to not pay workers and string them along with the promise of a paycheck next week. There is no recourse for the worker. That is archaic.

[justbroke]

I was equating one of the several States, within the United States, actually allowing practices such as those you mention occur in the Ukraine. I am of the opinion that in the U.S., a business witholding wages for anything other then a lawful court order or on order of the wage earner themselves for the purposes of paying taxes, a retirement refund, or medical insurances is... archaic.

I think you were responding to my post as if I was posting negatively about your posting of Kansas law. I was not. We happened to be posting at the same time!

[mountanddo]

Why is obamaloan, who has a status of "banned" posting on a thread that is 10 months old?

[ValleYum]

He is likely "necromancing" threads in order to try to get his post count up so he can post links and/or send private messages thus circumventing the new restrictions the admins added during the last spammers' PM posting sprees. For some reason they think they are less noticed on old threads. We see this all the time on a forum where I moderate.

He likely was banned after he posted in this thread. He also had advertising links on his profile, too.

Damn spammers! LOL