Can an employer take my entire paycheck? (Episode 22)

[00:00:00] keep this in mind if there's ever a conflict. It always defaults to what is best for the employee.

[00:00:07] Welcome back folks, it is episode 22 of its About Your Paycheck. Today we are covering

[00:00:14] can an employer take my entire paycheck but before we get into it how you doing sir? Man I'm good

[00:00:21] happy Saturday to you sir. How are you? I'm good man, I'm good um I'm doing good man

[00:00:29] because I can thank God for the weekend and weekend is here yeah man yeah man excited about

[00:00:36] content getting all stuff together. I was selling somebody recently talking about support staff

[00:00:42] and being in being in payroll in HR we're always support staff and articulating how my role and

[00:00:47] whatnot and I was just like you know what the boring stuff that the things you think is boring

[00:00:54] is fun for me so that's how your support staff should be wherever you work whatever you do

[00:01:00] if what's been ringing true for me very recently is if you do if you're doing what you love you

[00:01:06] will never work a day in your life yes you know I mean yeah that's it man what about you man

[00:01:13] bro I'm good just excited we're having some discussions about things that we're going to share later

[00:01:20] that I'm excited about for us that we're gonna be doing and we're gonna be rolling out

[00:01:23] to the other show we've been rolling out the transcripts from our episodes on LinkedIn those have

[00:01:29] been received excited for that stuff man I'm looking forward to the future and where this is

[00:01:33] going to take us bro honestly it's good to be in this position that we're in I definitely

[00:01:39] have a lot of gratitude to be in the spot that we're in that we that we decided to do this man

[00:01:44] right for years and then we were to stay it two years two or three years ago we're like let's do it

[00:01:49] no oh that's when we started but we talked about it for five years before that it was

[00:01:55] yeah it was like seven seven eight years yeah it was an idea we birth in the first year that we knew

[00:02:02] each other yeah and that was in 2016 2016 2016 yeah yeah what can be 16 because 16 is the first

[00:02:11] year I moved out here 16 yeah 2016 me and Walt met each other and started working together

[00:02:17] and right away just the entrepreneurial fire just was like boom I think one of the first things you

[00:02:23] told me you have a barber shop no it was it was it was a burger and car wash yes yeah

[00:02:32] that still works yeah you would let your car go through the thing and why you're not in the car

[00:02:37] are you can order it and eat even the car before you go into the car while the detail thing bro

[00:02:43] and you get some bacon food it's quick and instant yeah it was it was called quickies car wash

[00:02:48] oh my god I don't remember the name but I knew it was something with something with eating and

[00:02:54] saw two things that you wouldn't normally put together but and it's still a good idea so there's

[00:03:00] a place there was a place in slaughter that I saw somewhere that was set up like that they had

[00:03:06] a car wash and then on the inside they had a grill next to it they tried it out it's yeah yes

[00:03:12] why not it makes sense you're gonna be here for at least 10 15 minutes 20 minutes some

[00:03:17] so even longer than that sometimes depending on the line right yeah if you want a nice detail

[00:03:22] on your car yeah oh that's an hour in change maybe yeah yeah like you get somebody to go in

[00:03:28] you get it smellinize vacuumed out polished up wax or whatever it is you want do want

[00:03:33] works and you want it like and remember it was like the hand uh one of people actually doing

[00:03:39] wax and stuff yeah oh man this then there was go boys me and what was in the body's

[00:03:46] pizza rear spot it was a it was and we found a spot that was for sale it had the pizza ovens

[00:03:52] it was a great spot I don't know if it was a great location what do you think was this it wasn't

[00:03:57] right because the where it was at there was no other businesses around it it was just

[00:04:02] secluded where was that yeah but you know what hat look that was shoot we would have

[00:04:09] bro we would have hit pay there you know why because that was before the pandemic yes and then

[00:04:14] everything moved right after that everything started moving to this ghost kitchen I think it was

[00:04:20] even before uber eats yes right all the right before we would have caught such a delivery wave

[00:04:27] if we had gotten that spot man but just to show you folks like we've been on this entrepreneurial

[00:04:34] journey and it's financial freedom it was something very early on for me that was like

[00:04:40] it's not about the money of it all the um the dollar amount didn't matter for me it's about

[00:04:46] being financially free and and it's still i'm still on that journey and we are still on that

[00:04:52] journey but yeah we had we found a spot in there it was so exciting and again it was just we

[00:04:57] broke his house so we didn't matter how much they were selling it for they would have to give

[00:05:01] it to us too we can't give away all the ideas because we got tons of ideas oh god they go on

[00:05:07] yeah yeah sure what else yeah yeah exactly and we already have a roadmap out that's one thing folks

[00:05:16] you got a plan something that Steve Harvey got famous for quoting if you if you fail to plan

[00:05:23] then you are surely planning to fail you definitely got to have some plan what you do a vision

[00:05:29] board and stuff like that too right yeah i love my acronyms yes okay but we'll want us called

[00:05:35] tip tipp so you think you investigate you plan and then you start with the process

[00:05:45] yes i love it yes yes yes let me so can i hold it i'm gonna just tell you

[00:06:00] yeah in a wave of emotions just hitting me as i want to say it for you because

[00:06:05] i am folks we are witnessing a rebirth of Walter William Duncan and third over here

[00:06:14] i can't explain to you how happy i am to see this man flourish he's always been a i want to say

[00:06:22] consummate profession i was thinking about this but i don't know what consummate means i just know

[00:06:25] it is used in that way but you're such an amazing he's always been a great professional just

[00:06:32] nice person amazing professional has had his demons like we all do right but

[00:06:39] right now in this moment god damn it man you are you're going through this metamorphosis and you

[00:06:49] shedding that all that nonsense you shedding i see it before my eyes how you're growing and how

[00:06:57] you're evolving and just yo thanks for picking me up when i'm down i've been

[00:07:04] chaoticly busy for the last few weeks and Walt just picked up the baton and said this guy is busy

[00:07:10] and i'm going to go ahead and take the reins and see do what i got to do and do take keep pushing

[00:07:15] things forward and man bro you should be proud of yourself i'm proud of you and man god has got

[00:07:25] wonderful things and on the plate for us i always quote pitbull when he said people say oh pitbull you

[00:07:32] so lucky no the harder i work the luckier i get and we are the example of that because we are

[00:07:41] grinding we stay grinding we stay focused we stay but we love everything we do we get excited

[00:07:48] about these things that folks don't pay attention to you know i mean man bro love you man

[00:07:54] good job bro thanks for that thank you stuff man yeah bro i see it man i appreciate you man

[00:08:00] we appreciate it likewise so you've been a help man you've been a help so i like to drag it out

[00:08:06] i'm gonna drag it out but you know what you need to me as my brother and my friend

[00:08:10] and i appreciate that thank you thank you no doubt bro no doubt and yeah man no doubt

[00:08:15] we do have a show for you today folks we excuse me bro man i'm sorry man you're okay

[00:08:25] nah i'm feeling a little sick which reminds me crap man i need to put in my sick time

[00:08:32] oh what system do you use oh time track go the simply better employee time clock software

[00:08:39] that is going to make your life easier i don't know if you know man but it already has a unique

[00:08:46] graphical employee time card and it's awesome because it helps you quickly identify and fix the

[00:08:51] mistakes that's right now did you say that they just announced the addition of an automatic pto accrual

[00:08:57] earnings so you can say goodbye to those manual calculations time track goes new automatic pto accrual

[00:09:04] feature takes the hassle out of tracking those earned in accrued times assuring accuracy and

[00:09:10] consistency from both employees and HR teams oh that's golden that's awesome you know what that's

[00:09:17] right i remember that i read that you can choose from various rules like yearly monthly pay period

[00:09:26] hourly and hourly percentage to seamlessly align with your company's policies it includes

[00:09:33] new state sick leave awesome because i'm not feeling good that's going to help and you can do

[00:09:40] vacation hours that automatically increase with length of service man like how can someone find out

[00:09:47] what a simply better solution could do for their business oh to learn more they're always doing a

[00:09:53] 14 day free trial someone should go to their website at www time track go dot com that's TIM

[00:10:05] ETRAKGO dot com or if they want to call the number is 888 321 9922 let's go let's go

[00:10:20] I can say we're talking about can an employer take my entire paycheck but before we that we have

[00:10:26] pay new segment that we'd like to throw some articles out there for you throw some pay news out

[00:10:30] there for you wall has the first one so go ahead and take it away for us sir thank you sir

[00:10:36] you know as we say it's about your paycheck is the first place you want to come

[00:10:41] and begin your financial wellness journey right so we're going to offer you some tips we had to show

[00:10:46] about different budget budgeting saving and stuff like that but we want to give you some resources

[00:10:52] that's basically what the news i have so nerd wallet had a fascinating or great article to talk

[00:10:59] about the best budgeting apps that are out there so i'm just going to give you those six and tell

[00:11:04] you their names and tell you where you can find them at the first the top ranked one is why in

[00:11:11] a b which stands for you need a budget it's an actual app i love it i love it so it's recommended

[00:11:17] it's recommended for its hands-on zero budget based zero base budgeting and now the second one

[00:11:24] is good budget it's recommended for its hands-on envelope budgeting yes the third one is every

[00:11:32] dollar it's recommended for simple zero base budgeting the next one is empower personal wealth

[00:11:40] it's recommended for tracking wealth and spending the number five is pocket guard it is recommended

[00:11:48] for a simplified budgeting snapshot and the last one number six is honeydew dwe recommend it for

[00:11:56] budgeting with a partner so if you have a significant other or you have a roommate that you're

[00:12:01] close with and you budget together honeydew might be the app for you to research so where can you find

[00:12:08] these apps you can find them on at the Apple store or Google Play and you can go look at the cost

[00:12:15] and the ratings for each of those apps on there as well so that way you can do your research

[00:12:19] you can find any potential drawbacks and any other good reviews that you need to that are provided

[00:12:26] for your consideration when you're trying to find an app that fits for you additional resources

[00:12:31] the article that you may find in our article is nor wallet has budget planters that they include

[00:12:38] in the article online budget spreadsheets budget calculators and it's been tracker apps yes they

[00:12:44] mentioned those those six best budgeting tools but they offered other resources in that article as

[00:12:49] well be sure to check it out we'll include it in these show notes once the episode posts

[00:12:55] and thank you for the author Elizabeth Ayyula I believe I said it right Ayyula so she's the

[00:13:01] author of this article by nor wallet and that's why I had dope just I just want to throw out there

[00:13:07] because zero based budgeting is something I had to look up when I first heard the phrase years ago

[00:13:13] somebody was trying to be anywhere they were being like oh zero based budgeting and I didn't know

[00:13:18] what it meant right okay so I did find all that's come on I just found a really good definition for

[00:13:24] it for folks who may not know is zero based budgeting is a method of budgeting in which all expenses

[00:13:31] must be justified for each new period the process of zero based budgeting starts from a zero base

[00:13:38] and every function within the organization or in this case our household is analyzed for its needs

[00:13:46] and costs so the budgets are then built on what is needed for upcoming period regardless of whether

[00:13:52] each budget is higher or lower than the previous one so yeah start from scratch every time

[00:13:59] you created a budget right and you're like looking at your expenses and you look at what you spent

[00:14:04] but like all right nope start from zero again so I have another definition too oh thank you for saying

[00:14:11] that so this one says that zero based budgeting is when your income minus your expenses equal zero

[00:14:20] so so here's an example if you make five thousand dollars a month after everything you pay give and save

[00:14:28] and spend it should add up to that five thousand dollars yes right so that's zero based budgeting so

[00:14:35] like when you get to the point okay I make three thousand dollars and then after everything I spent

[00:14:41] and saved that totals up to three thousand dollars basically like ticking and tying everything

[00:14:48] that's what I think sounds like to me I like this one too folks because it's you gotta go research

[00:14:53] it because it is a little we could take a little minute a method of budgeting in which all expenses

[00:14:57] must be justified for each new period so that's good so you got to give yourself a period right

[00:15:04] the quarterly monthly whatever and you got to say okay I spent three hundred dollars on food last

[00:15:10] month or eating out which is like the biggest the biggest culprit in my household and what am I

[00:15:17] gonna spend the I'm going back to zero so yes you got to justify am I gonna spend three hundred

[00:15:22] dollars again no I want to spend a hundred dollars maybe just sidebar one of the things I try to balance

[00:15:28] out it's all right if we're gonna eat out a lot then don't buy as much groceries yeah I mean

[00:15:33] because any right most of us do both and oh always think about that picture there's like a zombie

[00:15:40] looking at back at you and it's like the caption is the veggies I bought last week

[00:15:46] yes yes yes yes so you try to be healthy and stuff and the next thing you know you are getting

[00:15:52] tacos and there you go yes one something that works for me is if I do order out

[00:15:59] I order out enough so I have food for at least yes yes I just thought about that yesterday

[00:16:08] I was like you know what I'm gonna make these because my household is so tough folks I have all

[00:16:12] age groups in my household literally literally except infant baby my the youngest one is nine right

[00:16:18] so nine to 70 it's so tough to satisfy everybody in one fell swoop and I just said you know what from

[00:16:27] going going forward I'm gonna try to start ordering like a tray of food instead of oh what do you

[00:16:34] want what do you want get out of here man you want to go cook your cook right man get out of

[00:16:38] it we I'm getting this and if you want to eat you're gonna eat this because every if y'all have

[00:16:44] suggestions please hit me up I'm struggling over here trying to feed these fools man

[00:16:52] my article is late breaking news Google has fired an employee who publicly protested the

[00:17:00] company's work for the Israeli military whoa during a presentation by an executive with

[00:17:06] Google's Israeli branch on Monday the new that oh the new the now former Google Cloud engineer

[00:17:14] stood up and shouted I refuse to build technology that powers genocide or surveillance

[00:17:22] wow link is in the show notes I just grabbed that from it it's I still don't understand the war

[00:17:30] I don't I still don't understand how in this day and age there are two wars that are going on

[00:17:34] in this world that have been going on for months maybe a year how long is the Ukraine and the

[00:17:38] Russia been in war maybe a year yeah like how is this possible in this day and age and then to

[00:17:46] the point where they're like oh we're gonna do a ceasefire today what how about this ceasefire

[00:17:51] period and take this to the table because at the end of the day it's going to be about money right so

[00:17:57] it's actually the invasion started February 24 for 2022 22 oh my gosh you talk about two years

[00:18:07] this war in the Ukraine that's crazy man all right this is not a political show although we say

[00:18:14] talk about things that intertwine with politics but we're not gonna I have no idea folks okay I have

[00:18:20] no idea all I know is some of my dearest friends are from Israel and I still don't know what it is

[00:18:26] like what I don't say anything because I've been like I don't know what's right what's wrong

[00:18:30] was honestly in this case this employee did what this former Google employee did what they thought

[00:18:38] was right correct right yep that's other people that would say hi I don't agree with it

[00:18:43] but I'm gonna get these coins that I need to buy yeah good yes yeah I hope that they were in good

[00:18:49] financial situation to be able to do something like that because 70% of Americans live paycheck to

[00:18:55] paycheck so it's very tough for most of us to say I quit and walk out because on our morals

[00:19:00] our values or whatever but I get it look I understand like you say he's standing on business on

[00:19:05] his business and that was my share for yeah for sure man so let's go ahead and get into this

[00:19:11] episode again we're talking about oh do I go first we are talking about can an employer take

[00:19:17] my entire paycheck here's some key points of tips for employees regarding whether an employer can

[00:19:24] take their whole paycheck or not along with some guidance and on how to protect against these

[00:19:31] situations right so first thing in foremost know your rights get familiar with the federal and

[00:19:40] the state laws regarding wage and hour regulations so do well wage an hour law and that but it

[00:19:47] exists folks on two different levels it exists at the federal level that's the do well department

[00:19:51] of labor and they have wage and hour laws they also one of the major acts or laws that they they're

[00:19:58] responsible for is the Fair Labor Standard Act F L S A some people say fleece I don't really like

[00:20:05] that that's term but I feel like is I feel like is Roots of people who are named Lisa

[00:20:13] what's it eat from yeah exactly F L S A and not to be confused with FMLA which is the other good

[00:20:20] fair labor stand I'm sorry the good the other DOL kind of law federal legislation those are two

[00:20:26] federal legislation acts that really impact worker rights and work benefits so you need to be

[00:20:34] familiar with those because the F L S A dictates minimum wage over time and other wage related

[00:20:41] matters at the federal level while individual states have a different set of rules and laws

[00:20:50] and regulations so as an employee it's tough because we have to say okay what are our rights

[00:20:56] there's a federal standard and there's a state standard if there's ever a conflict keep this in

[00:21:03] mind if there's ever a conflict it is always defaults to what is best for the employee okay keep

[00:21:11] that in mind folks so it's our rights and we have to know those rights so that's the number one thing

[00:21:18] and two is we have to understand what's permissible about deductions what our employers allowed

[00:21:25] to do in our paycheck and generally they're allowed to make deductions for your taxes right you're

[00:21:31] so security contributions and other legal mandated withholdings of course like our benefits are

[00:21:39] medical and then if you voluntary elected if you chose for things to come out of your check

[00:21:46] you're getting you're giving the employer permission for those things to come out so those are

[00:21:51] the easy ones right but you also have to keep in mind if you're in a union this is the number three

[00:21:57] that was two this is three if you're in a union you have to check your employment contracts and

[00:22:02] agreements right which even if you're not in a union you have to check your contract if you have a

[00:22:08] contract to work think about that if you sign something to contract to work and you didn't read that

[00:22:15] through shame on you because that could have spelled out something that impacts your pay

[00:22:23] I just spoke to a young man that didn't read his contract and got heavily disappointed because

[00:22:30] something didn't happen right and but the contract read a certain way so you have to read that

[00:22:37] and if you're again if you're in a union you have your CBA your collective bargaining agreement

[00:22:43] which will dictate and can override whatever the law is because you're saying oh I'm agreeing

[00:22:50] to this I'm in a union so when you go into a union and you sign up and I take the job

[00:22:55] you're agreeing to all the rules regardless of what the state and federal say so keep that in mind

[00:23:02] and then of course yes before you continue on that yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah you want to make sure

[00:23:07] that you actually keep a physical copy for yourself oh please yes copy for yourself

[00:23:13] and a fully executed copy yes sir yes sir here's what I mean if fully executed means that you signed

[00:23:24] it and your employer signed it and you have a copy of that one okay yes your employer and you

[00:23:31] are out of compliance if you don't have a fully executed copy so that means you did if it's not

[00:23:36] fully executed if it's not signed by all parties it's not really ratified I'm using these legal

[00:23:41] words but it's not really in place you know what I mean it's not real it's not real if you didn't

[00:23:47] have that it both signed and you may be like oh I know I signed it I know I saw this yeah but if you

[00:23:52] have a copy because now the burden of proof is on the person who has the problem oh I do you have

[00:23:57] fully executed copy yeah we've got to keep those things in mind my last one before I pass it off

[00:24:04] to wall is state by state here's what you got to know the state law and look you're probably only

[00:24:12] working one or two states at best so it's not hard for us as employees to go research the law

[00:24:18] in our state and here's what they're going to cover okay every state law are going to cover

[00:24:24] one two three things that you got to be mindful of what they can what an employer can take out of your

[00:24:32] check here's a good one what the employers cannot take out of your check okay and the penalty if

[00:24:41] the employer does violate that state law yes keep those in mind basically at the state level for

[00:24:50] deductions and if you're wondering if we answered the question yet can an employer take an entire

[00:24:55] paycheck the answer is it depends right it depends on all the things that we're saying at the end of

[00:25:01] the day you got to go over all the things that we're talking about can they take it what they

[00:25:06] can't take and what the penalty is to the employer if they do violate yeah that's the power of

[00:25:11] yourself you have to educate yourself thank you for saying that all that stuff Brian so the

[00:25:16] onus is on us as employees right we have to go out and educate ourselves and not just

[00:25:21] automatically trust that our employer is doing the right thing and then and it may not be or

[00:25:27] correct any any egregious value from the employer it could just yeah it did not mean

[00:25:32] might not be any malice with it they just could be on oversight honest humanistic oversight

[00:25:36] you know ignorance ignorance and that's why you need to read those things that's why you need

[00:25:42] to read those things and go through it as much as you can people I know people don't like remember

[00:25:47] that stat we had a couple of shows ago about the employee handbook about how many people avoid it

[00:25:51] I think it said like almost 30 40% like avoided or there was more than that right no I think it was

[00:25:57] 60% actively avoided crazy yeah so right doing that you could be missing out on stuff and I like what

[00:26:06] you said about the employer violations for your last point number five because some employees

[00:26:12] they'd be like they may not pursue that they may just allow the employer to be like okay we'll get

[00:26:17] it fixed and get you taken care of no but what else am I entitled to potentially because you didn't

[00:26:22] do this what does the state say yeah thank you for those brides so I yeah it's really it's 60%

[00:26:29] of employees avoid reading their company handbook oh gosh yep yep so I was just thinking

[00:26:41] that was just thinking and I said this before and at the risk of sounding corny there is definitely

[00:26:46] good information in there pretend that there's a hundred dollar bill at the end of that employee

[00:26:52] handbook that you get yes pretend that there's a hundred dollar bill at the end of it because

[00:26:58] there is definitely information in there that will either make you money or save you money

[00:27:04] in your employee handbook just keep that in mind thank you sir thank you sir what can you do

[00:27:12] as the employee right number I have five points that you sit for tips and stuff like that so number one

[00:27:18] perfect keep accurate records so you want to maintain detailed records of your work hours your wages

[00:27:25] and any deductions made from your paycheck keeping this documentation it can be crucial

[00:27:32] especially if you need to dispute any unauthorized or excessive deductions with your employer or

[00:27:38] any regulatory agencies right the second point is you want to communicate you might want to be

[00:27:44] the one to start the conversation right are be a part of the conversation with your employer so

[00:27:50] especially if you believe your employer has been making unlawful deductions from your check you

[00:27:55] want to address those immediately and promptly and but you want to maintain your professionalism

[00:28:02] while you're doing that with your employer right and I know sometimes it can be hard because

[00:28:08] you could be riled up because cause you to get in your emotions especially if it impacts

[00:28:13] your day-to-day living and stuff like that and it impacts how you're able to provide for your family

[00:28:19] right I understand that but you want to try to do your best as an employee to remain professional

[00:28:24] during those conversations because many of these disputes as we know can be resolved through open

[00:28:30] clear concise communication and we're going over those laws and agreements right and again as

[00:28:38] to Brian's point you have to understand that there are different federal regulations versus state

[00:28:44] regulations right so you have to be mindful of that and also when you're looking for stuff you want

[00:28:51] to make sure that you find a reliable source just don't follow just don't follow Suzie or Sam

[00:28:57] on TikTok just because they're saying something about yeah validate yep yeah check go to the

[00:29:04] all states have a state site if you can go to and the federal government has sites that you can

[00:29:10] go to directly find it out from the source so if it's getting to the place where you have to get legal

[00:29:18] involved you want to find some legal assistance if that's necessary right if you're unable to resolve

[00:29:24] it with your employer directly you might want to consider like a consultation with an employment

[00:29:29] lawyer or contacting your state's department of labor for assistance which I've seen many times in

[00:29:35] my career where somebody called the state and a state representative called the company and the

[00:29:41] real and yeah oh wow oh wow no doubt there you go yeah because those lawyers are the state

[00:29:50] representatives to can provide guidance on your rights and options for any recourse under those

[00:29:55] state and federal laws that we are discussing number four you want to be vigilant against wage theft

[00:30:04] unfortunately some employers have stolen from their employees I've seen it we did a true

[00:30:14] payroll crime on it about an employer in the UK who was will it willfully not paying people

[00:30:19] OT so wage theft including unauthorized parent check deductions is unfortunately common in some

[00:30:27] industries so you want to stay informed about common wage theft practices and report any instances

[00:30:33] of suspected wage theft to the appropriate authorities what's up you made me think about just

[00:30:41] so folks know if your manager shaves off time it doesn't necessarily need to be overtime they're

[00:30:49] trying to save against it but it could be just like oh you clocked out 10 minutes after your end

[00:30:55] time I'm putting it at five that's weird okay yes as a HR professional I always warn my managers

[00:31:06] meaning the managers I support to that they cannot do that that is illegal and the solution is

[00:31:12] coaching you can end up getting fired for it yes okay and that is what HR's recommendation is hey

[00:31:19] you can't steal their money you can't do that you can't do wage theft because that's what it is

[00:31:24] now if you're mad about it you have to have a conversation with this employee if they're violating

[00:31:29] some type of work policy you have to have a conversation and then if you have to have multiple

[00:31:34] conversations then then folks hey you're if you're violating your policy and you're you're

[00:31:39] boss is going about it the right way you can't it can lead to termination because work policies

[00:31:45] but even in at will states folks we have protected classes we have all these things know your rights

[00:31:53] because just because you're in I love I love when I hear oh I got fired because we're in

[00:31:56] a at will state no you didn't I'm in HR you got fired because you're bad at your job

[00:32:01] yeah or you did something it viol you violated in some way please if you know your rights you are

[00:32:07] we are very well protected want say that thank you for that it reminds me not to drag it on too much

[00:32:13] as we already close out the episode but I remember a situation I don't know if you shared it or if

[00:32:19] it was me or somebody else but I remember that there was a manager who would say oh I'm going to

[00:32:27] round your hours to the closest I'm going to round your time to the closest hour you know if you

[00:32:34] have if you work eight and a half hours I'm going to round it down to eight let's say it's all

[00:32:38] because we need to stay under budget and this and that and this manager did not know what she was

[00:32:44] doing was illegal she thought oh I'm being a good employee and they're like oh she's always

[00:32:50] under budget she's always this she's always that there's never any OT there's never any in that

[00:32:54] until one day there was a call that the prayer professional got and say hey I'm just checking

[00:33:02] because we don't know if it's right or not a lot of us a lot of people here don't speak English

[00:33:07] so we're trusting what the manager is saying so we just want to know hey is this correct

[00:33:13] it opened up a can of worms so you please like to Brian's point no your rights do your research

[00:33:22] which leads to the the last point that I have is know your resources I spoke to a little bit

[00:33:28] earlier but you want to know who you're getting your reliable your information from like yeah just

[00:33:34] don't trust Suzy and Sally even we even listening to us this is the place for the start check please

[00:33:40] yeah but go to the direct directly to the source go directly to your state site go directly to

[00:33:46] the federal site the IRS or whatever it is the dol.gov go to all these different sites where

[00:33:51] you can find this information at and you can google it and Google will take you right there to the

[00:33:56] state the official state site so you want to familiarize yourself with those resources available

[00:34:02] to help protect your rights as an employee to what what Brian spoke to earlier if you're in a

[00:34:08] labor union any effort organizations our government agencies that are responsible for enforcing

[00:34:16] wage and our laws so know your resources being aware of your rights understanding applicable

[00:34:22] laws and staying vigilant against potential wage theft will help guard you against having your

[00:34:27] wages or paychecks deducted it in full without proper authorization all right man so we move on to

[00:34:36] the last segment of our show safe talk and it should be a simply a fairly simple question or

[00:34:43] response here but should employees take more responsibility for not understanding their pay rights

[00:34:50] Brian should employee wow say I read this wrong should employees take more responsibility for

[00:34:57] not understanding their pay rights yeah yeah as a HR and a payroll professional for over 20 years

[00:35:05] now I've always told folks some of the onus of a pay era is on us as employees right especially ones

[00:35:16] that are in our benefit right there's sometimes that oh payrolls not doing something HR forgot to do

[00:35:23] this or apply a certain deduction to my check oh they forgot I get more money yeah it's something

[00:35:30] going to catch up something and guess what some of that is on you like on us as employees to say say

[00:35:36] all right look I'm gonna let this go a couple time paychecks maybe they need to catch up but after a

[00:35:42] while if something is let's say for instance you're in a state or you move from Florida to Georgia

[00:35:49] that this is an easy one you move from Florida to Georgia Florida doesn't have any income tax

[00:35:55] Georgia does right so now let's say you move from Florida to Georgia you in Georgia now and you

[00:36:01] updated your address and everything but maybe the tax hasn't gotten to you yet and because some

[00:36:06] systems are not automatic you have to the the folks behind it have to update manually and update

[00:36:11] and apply that tax and shoot if we don't if they're not set up in Georgia it may take even a little

[00:36:17] longer if you didn't tell anybody so there's a factors here right so now you still they still got

[00:36:23] you on Florida but I'm not paying taxes guess what when that catches up to you you're gonna oh that

[00:36:31] backtax right because your job is gonna if they do it right they're gonna switch it as of the day

[00:36:38] should have been with first effective date now that's back in a year ago guess what you're gonna

[00:36:44] owe Georgia for a year we think we'd be in slick sometimes and we save the money but it's on us so

[00:36:50] that you have to raise your hand sometime hey folks I moved I changed my address but my state

[00:36:55] didn't update yet my stack taxes didn't update yet oh okay thank you for letting us know now again

[00:37:01] if you got to if the team is good and they just we're gonna catch that really quick right but yeah

[00:37:06] that's just an example of how it is so yeah what do you think I think my answer is yes and

[00:37:14] the employers could do more to help educate the employees as well I played yes we as employees have

[00:37:24] responsibility to educate ourselves on the stuff and a lot of times we don't we just just trust

[00:37:32] what the employer is doing trust what they're saying and as long as we get direct deposit or

[00:37:39] we get our check some of our stubs when we get right at all yep yep some professionals yeah yeah

[00:37:47] like that that's it any love specials like there's there's some payroll pros out there or HR

[00:37:52] pros right there that hey my amount is the same it's been around the same I got pays and bills

[00:37:58] that's it I'm good all good yep yep and then yeah you're right and yeah and then it comes out and then

[00:38:05] and then there was a situation where I remember it was I don't know if it was a payroll pro but

[00:38:11] or somebody I know it was somebody in HR but they didn't check their benefit deductions and

[00:38:15] their family was pretty healthy for the most part and then something came up and they had to take

[00:38:19] their kid to the doctor and then find out like oh you only have single coverage for yourself

[00:38:26] you don't have your family covered on your assurance yes yep yep life events life events

[00:38:33] happened right away folks you're like what yeah like that's what I selected when I enrolled oh no

[00:38:39] look right here and they printed out the enrollment example you want to check those things especially

[00:38:44] at the open enrollment make sure that they got your elections because sometimes a clerical error can

[00:38:48] happen yes on either side that's employer us as an employer right yeah do you do do do do do do do

[00:38:58] do do just so such a great call out for I just want to touch on the life event piece folks

[00:39:05] that you have to update your HR sooner than later there is a limit HR if they want to

[00:39:12] they can reject your claim if you're outside of your life event notification period you know

[00:39:18] I mean if you call HR and your kid is six months a year old and you've been like oh wait by the way

[00:39:25] I need to update my insurance for my I just had a child or something like that this probably a

[00:39:30] bad example because you probably would need the insurance sooner than that but whatever the case

[00:39:34] maybe divorce or marriage where it's not you're not really thinking of it and they can reject it there

[00:39:40] is a notification period so again a regional employee handbooks and these things might be should

[00:39:47] and will be in these one somewhere in your policy and your procedures and your benefit package

[00:39:52] we got to read these things and that but not for nothing that that's what how I read it the employer

[00:39:59] part of it yes employers need to do more or guess what just rely on us because this is your first

[00:40:07] step in financial wellness journey and the only stop for employee information so until employers catch

[00:40:15] up we are here for you folks all along our whole purpose is to empower the employee right we did

[00:40:25] this because we have friends and family that were literally like I don't know what my pay stuff says

[00:40:31] and I'm scared to ask my company I'm scared to ask I don't know I don't want to ask I don't want

[00:40:37] to seem stupid I don't want to seem silly I don't want to upset them I need this job and Baba are

[00:40:42] you folks you we have you have to understand that if you're a good employee the rights are in our

[00:40:48] favor yes we have employee rights and we have to know but we have to you have to know them to execute

[00:40:55] them right you have to know them that's why we're here keep on coming back what do we got for next

[00:41:00] episode we start we're still discussing it right now I know that there are a couple different things

[00:41:06] we made droplet okay who pay or crime but we have some discussion yeah but no yes stay tuned for

[00:41:12] sure because guess what state by state we are going to start covering what how do we don't know

[00:41:18] how we're delivering it yet but we are definitely going to start including state by state what our

[00:41:22] employee rights are for different things it's a lot yes it's a lot business there's rights for

[00:41:27] deductions there's rights for overtime there's rights for this final pay termination right but

[00:41:34] for I'm doing a class March 25th for payroll and h off pros on final paycheck rules what has to

[00:41:42] happen if in the event you get terminated yeah man thanks for thanks for joining us today we love you

[00:41:50] please please before we sign off here are a couple quick thanks don't forget to follow

[00:41:57] it's about payroll all linked in and it's about your paycheck on Facebook and TikTok thank you

[00:42:03] for being a part of our payroll community and thank you for being a part of this journey with us

[00:42:08] until next time keep learning keep growing and most importantly keep going