Q: my employer is withholding funds that are supposed to be in a retirement account. I want to know what I can/should do.
The contributions shown on my retirement account were significantly lower than what was shown to be taken away from my paycheck, which should be 5% of each paycheck. I believe that the company is doing it on purpose because of a lot of things. The business was slowing down significantly during this time and there were a lot of hour cuts as well. This discrepancy between deductions from the paycheck and actual contributions is also happening to everybody working there. After telling my manager about this issue, they told me to email someone from the payroll department and he asked me what the difference was and if I wanted it to be invested in Calsavers or included in my next paycheck, without needing proof or anything at all. After about a week, a couple of other co-workers also complained and they got their difference paid, but it seemed like they "forgot" about mine. I emailed him and was given very lackluster responses. I wanted to know if what's going on is illegal/what I can do.
A:
This appears to be a significant problem arising from your employer's possible financial instability. If your employer is skimming money from your retirement contributions, you need to worry about how long your employer can stay in business.
It is very illegal for employer's to steal (or temporarily borrow without authorization) from your paychecks.
A: Contributions to your retirement funds are part of your employee compensation and it is most definitely illegal for your employer to skim that money away from you. If your attempts to be made whole through communications with management/payroll/human resources do not get results, contact an employment lawyer to pursue the compensation you are owed.
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