Hey guys,
I’m looking for some pragmatic insight on a situation I recently encountered in the wild. For context this is in the U.S. and Florida.
The situation is, I have a liquor store that I will frequent. There were two employees there for the night. I went in yesterday night to find the cashier distraught over some shrink that had happened earlier in the night. After further inquiry, I discovered that the employer was deducting loss from the employee’s paycheck to compensate for shrink. I immediately declared that this is a violation of labor law under current US laws.
The more senior employee (Gen X) immediately challenged me, and said that because this was “a small family business” they had the right to dock employee pay for shrink. I reaffirmed my position, and left as to not create a scene.
I went to the store later today to talk to another employee (budding leftist) to confirm that the employer was docking wages. This caused a rather loud conversation (apparently the senior employee from last night was making a stink about me) where he blamed the employee, and stated that if I were to report this, the employees would lose their jobs, and it would be better to sweep this incident under the rug (I work in science, so I’m fairly alien to retail)…
Given today, this is the US, and more importantly Florida… Would it be ethical to report this business even if the employees may lose their employment ?