Can My Employer Garnish My Wages for a Mistake I Made?

What Employers Cannot Deduct

Your boss can't garnish your wages if you damage or break company property while on the job. All businesses are required to carry a certain amount of business insurance to legally operate with employees onsite. Part of your employer's business insurance policy covers damages to equipment, tools or company property inflicted accidentally by employees. In most instances, deducting employee wages for shortages on cash drawers, lost deposits or customers who "skip out" on the bill is also illegal. Businesses that entrust staff members with cash-handling responsibilities typically carry bond insurance to cover such incidents.

Though your employer cannot legally garnish your wages for a mistake on the job, if he firmly believes that your mistake was of significant monetary damage to the company, other steps may be taken. If it is proven that the costly error was due to your negligence or insubordination, disciplinary action up to and including termination is possible and legal. If your blunder was exorbitantly expensive or hindered productivity in immeasurable proportions, you employer may be able to file a suit against you.

In some states -- such as Tennessee, Florida and New Mexico -- very few restrictions exist regarding what deductions are acceptable to for an employer to take from employee wages. However, federal law does regulate such deductions. In any state, your employer must be able to prove that your error directly resulted in monetary loss to the company due to negligence or insubordination on your part. Furthermore, the deduction must not exceed an amount that would reduce your hourly rate of pay to less than minimum wage.

Although in most cases your employer cannot charge you for your mistakes, that doesn't mean that he can't make any deductions from your wages at all. By law, employers can apply certain deductions -- other than taxes -- from your salary. For instance, if you are employed as a mechanic who is given a full set of tools upon hire your wages may be garnished to cover the expense of your equipment. Restaurant and hotel workers may be charged for uniforms. Federal law prohibits employers from garnishing your pay to levels below minimum wage in these instances as well.