We Sure Do Love Happy Endings

I work set hours and know how much my paycheck will be each week if I miss no shifts. So, imagine my surprise when my forty-hour paycheck is short nearly $200. I immediately message my supervisor via company instant messaging.

Me: “I’ve got an issue with my check. It seems it’s a few hours short; my pay doesn’t reflect hours worked.”

Supervisor: “Let me look into this. Are you working right now?”

Me: “I’m clocked in and available, yes.”

Supervisor: “You need to turn chat and phones on.”

Me: “I will do that just as soon as we get the payment issue cleared up. Until then, I am available and will use this time to respond to emails.”

About an hour later, as I’m finishing up another email, my supervisor calls me.

Supervisor: “I see what happened! On [date #1], we did not have any customer chats or phone calls come in for two hours, and on [date #2], we did not have customers for about half the day, so those times were deducted from your pay.”

Me: “…Excuse me?”

Supervisor: “I hope that clears up any confusion.”

Me: “Just to be clear: you are deducting from my paycheck due to lack of customers?”

Supervisor: “If no work was done during that time, we will not be paying for time spent sitting around.”

I quickly get off the phone with my supervisor and open a chat with the CEO.

Me: “Hi, [CEO]. I just wanted to confirm a few things. Is it true that [Company] will now be deducting time from our paychecks if there are no customers, despite the number of hours we worked that day?”

CEO: “Yes, that’s correct. [Company] does not pay people to sit around. If no customers are online, there is no work to be done. The deductions are correct and will continue going forward.”

Me: “Thank you for confirming.”

I took a screenshot of the conversation. I immediately logged off and used the screenshot to report them to the labor board, the Better Business Bureau, and anywhere else I could think of. I also quit, effective immediately, and reached out to a lawyer.

My hunch was right; that was VERY illegal in not only my state but also the state the company was based in. They not only had to pay me what they owed me, but they also had to pay my lawyer’s fees and court fees, and my settlement equaled over a year’s pay. I heard they got hit with massive fines, as well, and barely managed to keep their business.