-Edited errors-
Not my boss, my wife's. Her company started a new digital wallet program where you can get your money that you've earned whenever instead of waiting 2 weeks for your check. This is not a loan situation, it is connected to their hours so the system only allows them to pull from what they have already earned and that is automatically deducted from your check later.
Yesterday, upon setting it up and checking the system for the first time, she found that it is restricting her to only be able to pull half of what she makes each day. The rest is held in reserve at the request of the employer (we investigated and the app stated that this is only done based on the preferences set by the employer).
There was no indication prior to it starting that this would be the case. There were flyers and packets and nothing mentioned that there was a possibility that there would be restrictions. So, today, my wife asked the general manager of her location about it. She expected her to say it was something decided by the company's upper management (which her manager confirmed is the case), but she didn't expect her manager's response.
The general manager stated that it is her position and the position of the assistant general manager that this program shouldn't even be implemented because people will just waste all of their paycheck. Literally, she said that people will just waste their money and not have a paycheck. She implied that the employees couldn't be trusted to manage their money and wouldn't have money to pay their bills.
Now, my wife did try to tell her nicely that she has no business caring at all about what her employees choose to spend their money on … because it's their money that they worked for. This boss has had a history of being a bully-apologetic-elitist-nacricist, but this took the cake (and probably ate it too). My wife couldn't believe that the all-required-to-be-over-the-age-of-21 employees are being restricted from participating in this program because they are being treated like the pay they earned is charity. My wife's boss literally believes that without the structure of a 2-week pay period, her employees will literally fall to the wayside and will be completely unable to act like adults. Further, she thinks it's her responsibility to take control in whatever way available.
What makes matters worse is that people there are dramatically underpaid. There are people working for $9/hour there. My wife gets a position and shift premium and has been with the company for a couple years which puts her at a little over $14, but that is still not very high for the industry.
The general manager has constantly looked down on her employees. She treats others with disdain and distrust constantly. There is no one else who has the kind of money she has at the location. She makes way more than anyone else and her husband owns several companies which puts her family in the millions. It's safe to say the people who work under her are in dramatically different financial situations. Most people who work there can't afford the company offered insurance. This same manager has expressed confusion as to why people aren't applying for a job listing for $10/hr part-time. She sees nothing wrong with paying people as little as possible.
It shouldn't matter how much you make. It shouldn't matter the reason or the time-frame. If you worked and earned money, is it not your right to access and spend it however you deem fit??
People, we have to stop pretending like these people are fighting fair. The “ruling elite” are blatantly trying to control those of us with less. They are not only controlling us by short changing us on wages and benefits, they are blatantly restricting us. They cannot tell us how to use our money. These people in these positions have complete control over what we make and how we make it and they are using it to benefit from the resources we created. No matter what work you are in, you are creating, providing, extracting a resource. Someone is benefiting from that resource. And it isn't us.
Tl;Dr — My wife's boss blatantly stated that she thinks her employees can't be trusted to spend their own money appropriately and shouldn't have access to their earned money unless it's on her terms.