Restaurant docks workers’ pay for burning waffles, not crisping pork enough

Ever have a bad day at work in a restaurant? It’s easy to get an order wrong once in a while, or forget that extra side of dressing for table five, but should your mistake cost you more than $100 from your next paycheck?

A cafe in Perth, Australia, is facing major fines after the Fair Work Commission there found the restaurant was unlawfully deducting pay from its employees’ checks, reported the Associated Press.

The restaurant reportedly took $112 from a cook’s paycheck because her pork belly was found to be not crisp enough. If you placed a tomato slice in the wrong portion of a sandwich, that’s $30. If you overcook a waffle, that’s another $12. And forgetting to prepare parsley for the following day will cost you $10.

Some non-food related deductions included $100 each time an employee was late for a shift.

Four employees brought complaints against the restaurant and each received $5,000 as compensation from their former employer. The cafe was also ordered to pay $7,650 in fines.

This is far from the first time a restaurant has held an employee responsible for losses. A New York City restaurant server made headlines late last year when she refused to pay $96 after one of her tables dined and dashed.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, employers are allowed to deduct pay for walk-outs, cash register shortages and breakage, as long as the deduction doesn’t put the server’s pay below minimum wage.

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