Legality of Deductions from Pay for an 'Error Fund'

Hey,
i am a truck accessory installer at a small business in Florida. every week they take out a small portion of everyones check and call it an "error fund", in case we break a part, or scratch a car etc, and thats used to pay for the damages instead of using their insurance. if we don't damage anything we get it back at the end of each year. everyone of the employees here says its illegal, and everyone i talk to says it sounds like it should be illegal.

i talked to the president of the company about it and he says its so they do not have to pay their insurance deductable of $500 when an employee messes something up, and that they've been doing it for over ten years, as if that makes it right.

searching the internet i could find nothing on this subject. can someone tell me if this is legal or not? thanks

Mark

I doubt that such a deduction is permitted, but Florida has weak labor laws and as I don't practice there I'm not sure what a court might hold. I suggest either trying to get an answer from the Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation (or whatever agency wage and hour issues have been shuffled off to in Florida's latest reorganization), or consult a local lawyer who handles wage and hour claims.