DOL warns Big Lots on wage deductions, recordkeeping rules

Big Lots workers should question any deduction for a uniform, a cash shortage, a merchandise shortage or a tool if it cuts pay below the federal wage floor or eats into overtime owed. The U.S. Department of Labor says the Fair Labor Standards Act sets the minimum wage at $7.25 an hour for covered nonexempt workers and generally requires overtime at one and one-half times the regular rate after 40 hours in a workweek.

That rule matters on the sales floor, where store policies can touch pay in small but costly ways. A name tag, apron requirement, register shortage, broken handheld device or other work-related charge may sound routine, but the DOL says deductions for cash shortages, merchandise shortages, employer-required uniforms and tools of the trade are not lawful to the extent they drop wages below the minimum wage or reduce overtime pay due. If a manager says a deduction is coming, ask exactly what it is, why it is being taken and whether it changes your final hourly rate for the week.

The paperwork matters as much as the paycheck. The DOL says employers covered by the FLSA must keep records for each nonexempt worker, including hours worked, wages earned and other payroll information. Payroll records are generally kept for at least three years. Records used to compute pay, such as time cards, wage-rate tables, work and time schedules, and records of additions to or deductions from wages, are generally kept for two years. That is not just a back-office rule. It is the record trail that decides many wage disputes.

Workers should keep their own backup file. Save pay stubs, schedules, time edits, missed-punch approvals and any written explanation for a deduction. If a meal break was shortened, a clock-in was changed or a register shortage was assigned to you, keep the message or memo that explains it. Those records let you compare what was scheduled, what was worked and what was actually paid, line by line.

The issue is especially relevant at Big Lots, where the brand now says it operates 219 stores in 15 states after being purchased out of bankruptcy in 2025 by Variety Wholesalers. Big Lots and its subsidiaries filed voluntary Chapter 11 petitions on September 9, 2024, in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, under Case No. 24-11967, and a sale order was entered on January 2, 2025. In a company still moving through that transition, old payroll records, store closures and changing contacts can make a simple deduction harder to track. A clean paper trail is the worker’s best defense when the numbers do not add up.