I have been surprised how surprised workers are when they hear their employer can dock their pay for a host of reasons.

Just because you have an agreement with your boss/company that you’ll be paid a certain amount each week, or every two weeks, that doesn’t mean an employer can’t take some of your pay away. Many employers use conduct as a reason to dock pay, and others do it when the company is having financial trouble.

There are a host of reasons when docking pay runs afoul of labor laws. Check out my Your Career column today at MSNBC.com. It addresses the issue.

But I just want to go on the record as saying if your employer does this I probably would rethink working for the guy or gal. Just because it may be legal doesn’t make it right.