
Quoting
Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Opinion FLSA2004-19NA
Q1) Does the FLSA prohibit an employer from deducting compensation from an employee’s paycheck (without the employee’s permission) in order to reimburse itself for an overpayment inadvertently made to the employee in a previous pay check? The employee requested 75 hours of vacation in pay period one and was paid for them. The employee in fact had only 32 hours available and reported it to the department. When the employee was paid for the next pay period, 43 hours pay were deducted.
A1) It has been our longstanding position that where an employer makes a loan or an advance of wages to an employee, the principal may be deducted from the employee’s earnings even if such deduction cuts into the minimum wage or overtime pay due the employee under the FLSA. An employer may not, however, make an assessment for administrative costs or charge any interest payment that brings the employee below the minimum wage. See Field Operations Handbook, 30c10; opinion letters dated March 20, 1998, and November 16, 1977 (enclosed). Thus the amount the department chooses to recoup in the next pay period is at the department’s discretion. It does not matter whether the deduction was made in the next pay period or several pay periods later.