I am also aware of a manager at my job who got fired for playing those games. Fired and security-escorted out.
Knowing the department director and how she felt about the employees, she was probably enraged when she found out what the manager under her was doing.
Here it’s very difficult to fire an employee after the probationary period, but managers are relatively easy to fire. There’s a three strikes rule for managers. Whenever a PIA manager starts being extra nice to everyone, you know they just got reported to HR for a second time.
Screwing with time cards in the U.S. is extra double bad because of federal law.
If the employee can prove the manager has done it, they’ve proven that their employer is both guilty of wage theft, and also that they’ve destroyed the records showing how much time you actually worked. So usually the employees get to say how much they are owed, and the employer has no way to argue against it.
If I recall correctly, if it was an honest mistake, the employer has to pay back two times what was owed. If it was intentional, then they have to pay back three times what was owed.
There aren’t many worker protections in the U.S., but that particular set of laws is ok. Of course, there could be additional protections in state or local laws.