agreed

1.) A store where shoes cost $240/pair is most likely on Newbury Street or in one of the major shopping districts. This isn't Famous Footwear we're talking about. And I would know, I work in a shoe store on Newbury Street where shoes top $500. 2.) A shoe that is over $100, even in such department stores as Macy's and JcPenney only have one on display. As a salesperson, you get out one shoe, they try them on and they can buy them that way. The only way they can get TWO pairs of shoes is after they pay for them. 3.) Going along with #1, any shoe store that has highly priced merchandise also has the best security system. For instance, the store next to mine (aka: Burberry) has security guards. Therefore, they would have a clear view of the perpetrator, therefore the sales associate would not be docked that much money. 4.) In Massachusetts, as I stated, an employee cannot be docked for a theft unless it is fully proven by records (as well as police statements) that is their fault. For instance, if he gave the customer the shoes without said customer paying for it, it does fall on him. However, employees in Massachusetts are protected under such laws. He cannot possibly be docked $240 for the loss of a product. Unless he marked the product as sold, he cannot be held responsible for the act of a sole individual. An employee cannot automatically be docked his pay for this incident. It has to go through the courts and, especially in Massachusetts, it can take up to a couple months for this to happen. Also, in Massachusetts, an employer cannot lawfully dock a paycheck because of a theft, no matter what the store policy is. That employee has worked those hours therefore he has the right to the money he has earned. Any 'docking' of a paycheck must be done after the check has been cashed and there must be legal documentation in order to do so. They cannot take it out of the check, it's completely illegal and the company processing the checks wouldn't do it. So don't jump to conclusions that I know nothing about situations like this. The same situation I mentioned before had all of this proceeding it.

your entire argument (of the manager's reaction) is based on what MA law is. Isn't stealing illegal as well? So didn't we just prove that just because something's the law, it doesn't always come to fruition that way? Let me break it down for you. 1) Stealing is illegal. 2) An employee being charged for stolen or broken merchandise, which is found outside of their fault, is illegal. So let's look at the situation. 1) there was a thief (so rule 1 was broken). 2) Perhaps the manager didn't follow the law either. OMG WHAT PEOPLE NOT FOLLOWING THE LAW!?!?

Unless the manager is making the employee work without clocking in, almost any chain retailer and most upscale privately owned shops are going to have computerized payroll software that updates to a (usually independent) central processing center where the taxes are calculated and the paychecks are cut. When I worked retail in PA, our checks were actually cut in KY. This is why the checks are always a pay period behind. So unless the manager is changing the employee's clock in/out times to reflect the difference and hoping corporate doesn't notice the unaccounted for pair during inventory or the discrepancies in man-hours versus projected sales, there is no way for the store to refuse to pay, as the previous poster has already stated. I'm thinking either the manager is bluffing rather than issuing a writeup (if the store has a policy of only bringing out one shoe at a time or some other policy that was violated. As a side note, they've always let me see both the shoes, but only bother to lace up the right shoe) or the OP just tacked that part onto the end to sweeten the FML.