Wrongful Withholding of Wages – Hawaii Employment Law

Hawaii employers may not deduct, withhold or otherwise require employees to pay any part of their compensation unless required by law, court process, or authorized in writing by the employees.  An employee, however, cannot authorize or be required to bear the following:

1. Fines;
2. Cash shortages in a common till or register used by two or more persons or under the sole control of one employee who is not given an opportunity to account for all monies received at the start of a shift and all monies turned in at the end of  a shift;
3. Fines or replacement costs for breakage;
4. Losses due to acceptance of bad checks if the employee is given discretion to accept or reject checks;
5. Losses due to defective or faulty workmanship lost, stolen or damaged property; default of customer credit; or nonpayment for goods and services unless such losses are attributable to the employee’s willful or intentional disregard of the employer’s interests; and/or
6. Cost of medical examinations or reports which are requested or required by the employer or by a government agency.

An employer may make adjustments in wages for advances or correction of computation errors from previous payrolls and such an action is not considered an unlawful deduction from an employee’s wages.