Can Employer Do This?

[SarahFair]

My sister worked as a waitress at a bar and grill. She quit the last week of December 2009 because the atmosphere was bad (1 owner is a drunk and the other is pushing drugs through the place) and it was costing her money to go to work. Well I guess they got mad at her because everyone else was quitting on them too. She said she had 5 checks that added up to $150+ that are all under 90 days old.
Well on her last check she had her friend that still works up there bring it to her. It was for $0.00 and with a note attached saying if she didnt have the checks cashed by Dec. 31 2009 they were canceling them all. Well she didnt get the note till after the first of the year and has a pretty good hunch that they didnt even write the note till the 31st (seeing as she quit earlier that week).
Can they legally do that?

 

[The Chicken Lady]

She should go to the bank and try cashing them. That's what I would do.

Normally on a check, it has a notice at the bottom for how long it is good for. Unless it has "void" written on it, it's likely a valid check.

 

[SarahFair]

Quote:
Her bank account closed for one reason or another so can she just go to any bank?
She tried a check cashing place and they said the checks were coming up as cancelled

 

[The Chicken Lady]

Very strange.

Maybe someone who works at a bank will be able to help. It sounds like she's out of luck, though, unless she has the money to hire a lawyer.

Small claims court, perhaps?

 

[easttxchick]

Sounds almost like a case of theft by check-instances of getting goods or services, paying with a check and either having insufficient funds in the account or stopping payment on a check. In some states $500 or more would be a felony. I'd take it to the local PD if I were her.

 

[mjdtexan]

In the employee packs that I made I always made the employee to cash the checks in 90 days. I also had it on the check. Here in Texas thats how it must be.

I rarely had it happen and I never held the employee to it. If they went past their 90 days with the check I always issued another. I dont like it when they do that though, it causes your books not to match your balance.

 

[SarahFair]

She just needs the money to pay her car insurance today. Then she finds out that her bank account closed and was sent to collections because everytime the car insurance tried to withdrawal it was causing her to over draft.
She now fears shes going to have to take out a student loan to pay her car insurance and other bills off..


It just makes me mad that these scum bags get to do this to her.

 

[bkreugar]

Pretty dumb on the employers part! If she contacted the ~gosh I forget the right bureau~ but the same place that DEMANDS that the restraunts must pay minimum wage IF the tips are not enough to bring it to minimum wage.Lasst I knew waitresses made like 2.13 an hour.So if you didn;t make enough in tips to make it to minimum wage , employer has to pay you minimum wage. Again can't remember the agency resposible (someone will) but if it was costing her to work there, one wonders IF she was making a minimum wage with tips.

If she calls that agency I am sure she will get some help.Unrelated but about 8 years ago I had a problem with my employer regarding safety.I called OSHA (poster in the bathroom) and it was TOTALLY ananymous and boy did they fix the problem johny on the spot then. They then have to give paperwork documenting they fixed the problem. About2 months later OShA came in to do a "random" safety check.Better neleive they checked what I had complaned about.But again my employer DID fix the problem after I called.

Osha called me regurlarly and protected me, although my emplyer did not know it was me.Bottom line ~ I had a good experience with the govt agency fixing my issue~. So it is not all "they won't help at all.

 

[bkreugar]

Gosh what IS that agency? The one responsible for minimum wage and tips etc?

 

[PotterWatch]

I don't know how the check cashing place could tell they were cancelled. The only way the employer could cancel them would be to put a stop payment on the check numbers, but a cashing place wouldn't be able to tell that. That would only become apparent when the check tried to clear their account. I would go to the bank on which the checks are drawn and see if she can cash them directly at the bank. That way if there is a stop payment, she will know right then and won't get the money only to find out later that the checks didn't clear. I would be surprised if the employer did put a stop on them since you generally have to pay a fee to do that. It doesn't seem worth it for the employer to pay fees just to get out of $150 since most of the time a stop-payment fee is at least $10 per check.