Paying the losses from your own pocket

annmarie

Registered User
Messages
5
Hello,


My friend works at Starbucks and sometimes she complains to me that the shift supervisor makes her pay from her own pocket for missing money from the till.


I don't really know the system, but when they close the till, it will show how much each of them sold coffee that day and the shift supervisor will ask for money if they are missing.



Is it legal to ask the employee for money without providing him with some kind of papers? Should the manager be informed about this? Or is it normal practice for all types of shops like this?
 
So I guess her supervisor is cutting some corners, even though it could prove to be almost impossible to pin the losses on my friend, seing that she doesn't work at the till all the time the shop is open.
 
Places such as these usually have supervisors most of whom do not have a clue about managing anything and probably would not get a job managing elsewhere. The attrition rate of staff in most fast food outlets is high too but in our current financial state some hold on to any kind of job for longer.

But, forcing staff to cough up for "shortages" is the pits. The managers are abusing their status but probably have not the cop-on to be any other way. I would bet that any employee in such a situation as described here would be wasting his/her time trying to reason with the supervisor.

If the employee is a member of a trades union, then representation is at hand. If not a member, then it is open season for supervisory abuse.
 
It is the nature of till work that it will be over or under on occassion. I do not believe there is a law that allows an employer to insist the employee makes up the difference.
 
Places such as these usually have supervisors most of whom do not have a clue about managing anything and probably would not get a job managing elsewhere. The attrition rate of staff in most fast food outlets is high too but in our current financial state some hold on to any kind of job for longer.

But, forcing staff to cough up for "shortages" is the pits. The managers are abusing their status but probably have not the cop-on to be any other way. I would bet that any employee in such a situation as described here would be wasting his/her time trying to reason with the supervisor.

Agreed.

If the employee is a member of a trades union, then representation is at hand.
Don't hold your breath. Two friends looked for help from their union for similar situations. After nearly 4 months they had received no useful help. They ended up writing to the Franchise owner (it wasn't Starbucks) and the matter was sorted out within weeks.
 
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