There are a few current posts talking about the legality of fines, deductions and penalties for various reasons. Here are some specific questions I hope to get answered that may help everyone.
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Are fines for lateness legal?
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Are fines for taking sick leave or personal leave legal?
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Is it legal to deduct an hours pay if you are late 5 minutes?
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Is it legal to require a person deduct a full hour of sick or personal leave time if they only take a half an hour leave?
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In the teaching world, is it legal to require a teacher pay their substitute out of pocket when taking allotted paid personal leave? It feels like this is not really personal leave because you end up paying for a sub, so in truth, there is no “paid” personal leave.
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Is it legal to deduct a days pay if the school has to provide the substitute, but that substitute does not get paid anything in addition to their normal salary because they did not exceed their normal contracted teaching periods for that week? (In this case, the school is pocketing the money.)
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Is it legal to require staff to stay on campus during a lunch break? If you leave for lunch, but come back on time, is it legal to fine for that?
If you are offered a contract with any of these listed and they end up being illegal, how likely is it that you could negotiate those items be removed for your specific contract? I would think if you asked for those to be removed or changed, then that company may rescind the job offer on the grounds you are making trouble before even starting the job. If you sign the contract knowing those things are illegal and later request those things not be enforced on the grounds of it being illegal, would you then be a target for not being rehired at the end of your contract? It seems like even if those items are illegal, there is not much that can be done other than passing on the job offer and hunting for a company that actually follows the law.