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Employee Theft

Jen Sorensen
© Jen Sorensen

This is not a joke. For many low-paid workers, the fees reduce the amount of money they earn to less than minimum wage.

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5 Comments

  1. PatriotSGT wrote:

    It’s true. One of my sons was working at his first summer job last year and had a card like this. We figured out what was happening and then helped him just withdraw all the money at once and deposit it to his regular bank account so he wouldn’t have to pay the “per transaction” fees. I told him not to work there for this year so he’s working at the college instead. It reminds me a little bit of to the old “company store” way of doing business that was outlawed years ago. I guess the law needs to be updated for the digital age.

    I think it’s ridiculous. We had asked him to request check payment instead, but he told us they said it was the only method. How come the FED doesn’t look at these kinds of things? Maybe peoples SNAP and unemployment cards are working the same and the Gov’t is sticking it to them just like the private sector.

    Monday, July 15, 2013 at 12:17 pm | Permalink
  2. Iron Knee wrote:

    Yeah, where I live if you go onto unemployment they send you the pre-paid cards unless you sign up for direct deposit. Luckily, they tell you repeatedly you can sign up for direct deposit and make it very easy.

    I guess for some people the pre-paid cards make sense. If you don’t have a checking account then cashing a check can cost more than the transaction fees for the cards. But there should still be some rules governing these fees, like there are for credit and debit cards.

    Monday, July 15, 2013 at 12:48 pm | Permalink
  3. ebdoug wrote:

    Not the fed but the New York AG going after these companies. Yeh, for New York. And now the local grocery store Wegmans has caught onto ObamaCare. Part Time workers are no long going to have health insurance through the job which I think is great. The government will take from the rich to pay the health insurance for these people. Since Wegmans is very ethical and non Union, grocery prices in their store will come down which is one of the points of ObamaCare. All have health insurance but not through your job.

    Tuesday, July 16, 2013 at 9:09 am | Permalink
  4. Bard wrote:

    I worked at a Kohls, and the only way you could get paid was through direct deposit. But my friend didn’t have a checking account, so he got one of these cards and basically everything he did with it cost him money, it was the worst.

    Tuesday, July 16, 2013 at 10:41 am | Permalink
  5. Gerald wrote:

    Ex McDonald’s Employee Sues Because She Doesn’t Want Her Paycheck On A Prepaid Debit Card

    Need I say more … http://consumerist.com/2013/06/17/ex-mcdonalds-employee-sues-because-she-doesnt-want-her-paycheck-on-a-prepaid-debit-card/

    Wednesday, July 17, 2013 at 11:15 pm | Permalink