The mother of a teenage McDonald's worker complained about a recent situation her son found himself in.
The woman, who goes on TikTok as @lovebyrd82, released a video on the platform, saying that the teen's cash drawer was $32 short before the end of his shift and that the fast-food franchise restaurant demanded he covers the difference out of his own pocket.
The recurring questions she asks in the two-minute clip are if this is standard practice, and does her boy really need to personally pay back the money.
This mom found it suspicious that McDonald's forced her son to cover the missing cash from his drawer during his shift
Image credits: lovebyrd8
"So after work today, I am going up to my son's job because last night he called me, he asked me to bring him his wallet and I'm like, "Well, why you need your wallet? You've already been at work all day," and he's like, "Oh, well, my drawer came up short, so they said I have to pay it back." So now I'm wondering, like, is that really a thing at fast-food restaurants? Because he works at a McDonald's franchise?"
Image credits: wikipedia.org (not the actual photo)
"And don't get me wrong, if he messed up the drawer, he needs to, you know, be disciplined at work, you know, he needs to be written up or whatever their process is. But I don't think the process is making a 17-year-old pay back money that's short from a drawer. Like, do you think he stole the money?"
Image credits: lovebyrd8
"Like, what's going on here? So y'all let me know if y'all ever worked for a fast food restaurant or something like that if the drawer comes up short, do you have to pay it back? Like, is that a thing? Or like, what happens in that situation? He's been working there for about a year and a half now. And I asked him, had that ever happened before? He said it happened one time before, but it was only like $5."
Image credits: NomadSoul1 (not the actual photo)
"First of all, my son is very smart and he's a whiz at math, so I don't know what the hell happened, how his drawer came up short $32. But yeah, is it? Are they supposed to make him pay it back? Because he acts like he had to pay it back. Like he said, my husband said when he got there to pick him up from his shift that the other kids in there was helping him come up with the money to pay it back because he didn't have his wallet. And so my husband just gave him the money to pay it back. But I think that's very strange."
Image credits: lovebyrd8
"My husband is like, "Oh, well, I know your son was in there probably playing around and not paying attention, and he f**ked up that drawer." And so I understand that. But isn't it up to the manager to talk to him, to, you know, give him a warning or something, but to make him pay it back? Like, is that what businesses do? I've never worked at a fast-food restaurant, so I don't know, but is that how it goes? Because I am going up there after work to see if that's really how it goes. Because I don't know. I just find that strange."
The video in which she shared her concerns has been viewed 250,000 times
Union attorney from Las Vegas, Nevada, Nathan Ring said that an employee's cash drawer being short at the end of a shift or a server having a customer walk out on a check without paying at all is, unfortunately, a relatively common occurrence.
"Employees often want to know whether their employer can force them to pay the cash shortage from their register drawer or compensate the employer for the customer that walked out by withdrawing funds from their personal paycheck," Ring wrote. "Luckily, the answer to that question is almost always a firm no."
In most places, the law has strict requirements concerning what amounts an employer is permitted to withdraw or deduct from an employee's wages. Some, like taxes or child support payments, are mandatory.
But for deductions that are not required by law, an employer can only deduct amounts from an employee's wages if the employee has given an express written prior authorization to deduct a specific amount.
For example, in Nevada, one of the states that Ring is licensed to practice in, an employee who has an employer deduct amounts from their paycheck without proper authorization is permitted to file a complaint with the Nevada Labor Commissioner.
"The employee is [then] entitled to return of the amounts unlawfully taken by the employer. In addition, the Labor Commissioner can enforce an administrative penalty of up to $5,000 against the employer for each violation of Nevada Law," the attorney explained.
The mom came back with an update, saying she has contacted the U.S. Department of Labor
In search of justice, the woman said she contacted the U.S. Department of Labor. According to her, a representative of the institution told her that the establishment had no right to handle the situation the way it did, however, because the teen paid it back with cash, there was nothing they could do about it.
"I guess this is a case of a 'rule' that was made up somewhere along the way that people just follow so that they can avoid write-ups or ... [termination]," the author of the TikTok concluded.
"If it was a case where they thought that he stole the money, they would have to do an investigation if they wanted to pursue pressing charges ... but under no circumstances are they allowed to ask for cash right now or take it out of [their employees'] paycheck."
The mom said that even though she could take her son's employer to court, she is not going to do that over $32 and that her family is going to take this as a learning experience.
This case has received a lot of reactions online, and many people shared similar personal experiences
