Deductions - General (this page)
Allowable Deductions under FLSA
Focus on Misappropriation Deductions
Miscellaneous FLSA Deduction Problems
Most employers and employees understand that federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour (the Texas minimum wage is the same) and that whatever wage payment method is used, it must boil down to at least minimum wage for all hours worked, plus time and a half for hours worked in excess of 40 in a seven-day workweek. (There are several exceptions to the seven-day workweek standard, such as for employees of police, fire, and EMS departments, and for employees of hospitals and residential care facilities, but the vast majority of employees will be covered by the seven-day workweek.) The greatest source of confusion and trouble with minimum wage lies in the question of what deductions an employer may make from an employee's pay without violating the minimum wage requirements. The deductions are not listed all in one place, but appear in the statute itself, the regulations, DOL's Field Operations Handbook (FOH), and case law. (Note: some of these deductions are also allowable from the salaries of exempt employees, while others would violate the salary basis for the overtime exemptions. The focus of this section is on deductions from non-exempt employees' pay, whether they are paid on an hourly, salary, commission, or other basis.) The other main issue with deductions from pay has to do with authorization to make deductions at all. Deductions that are ordered by a court or required or specifically authorized by a law need no authorization by an employee, but any other kind of deduction must be specifically authorized by the employee to be valid under the Texas Payday Law - for details, see "Deduction Problems Under the Texas Payday Law" later in this article.
See Allowable Deductions Under the FLSA
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