Can my employer charge me for accepting a counterfeit bill?

To deduct the value of the loss experienced by the employer from your pay would be an unlawful act by this employer. An employer is not allowed to pass along business losses to the employee, even if the employee caused the loss, unless the employer can prove the employee intentionally engaged in theft. However, you can be terminated or disciplined in any other lawful way for making the "mistake." If you get fired for objecting to his action of taking the money, you would likely have a claim of wrongful termination. However, remember that proving you were terminated for a particular reason may be difficult. You need to decide how valuable your job is and what it is worth. If you do decide to object, you have several options. One is to simply tell the employer that it is unlawful and that you will take action if he does so. Another is to hire an attorney to write a demand letter that would include a warning about retaliation. Another is to file an administrative wage claim after the money has been deducted. To do that you would go to the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement and make the claim. Another is to file a small claims lawsuit for the money. Although the money involved probably does not justify an attorney to get involved, you could also sue in superior court. Good luck to you.

In California, taking money from employees for "mistakes" they make is illegal and could subject the employer to penalties. The leading case on this issue is the Kerr’s Catering Service v. Department of Industrial Relations (1962) 57 Cal.2d 319, in which the California Supreme Court essentially held that employers may not hold employees accountable for losses, shortages, or breakage occasioned by simple employee negligence or error. These are deemed to be a routine cost of doing business which cannot be passed along to employees. Moreover, an employer may not unilaterally take money out of an employee’s paycheck to pay for such losses shortages, or breakage. Under California law, your employer cannot legally make such a deduction from your wages if, by reason of mistake or accident a cash shortage, breakage, or loss of company property/equipment occurs. California courts have held that losses occurring without any fault on the part of the employee or that are merely the result of simple negligence are inevitable in almost any business operation and thus, the employer must bear such losses as a cost of doing business. (For example, if you accidentally drop a tray of dishes, take a bad check, or have a customer walkout without paying a check, your employer cannot deduct the loss from your paycheck.) There is an exception to the foregoing contained in the Industrial Welfare Commission Wage Orders that purports to provide the employer the right to deduct from an employee’s wages for any cash shortage, breakage or loss of equipment if the employer can show that the shortage, breakage or loss is caused by a dishonest or willful act, or by the employee’s gross negligence. What this means is that a deduction may be legal if the employer proves that the loss resulted from the employee’s dishonesty, willfulness, or grossly negligent act. Under this regulation, a simple accusation does not give the employer the right to make the deduction. The DLSE has cautioned that use of this deduction contained in the IWC regulations may, in fact, not comply with the provisions of the California Labor Code and various California court decisions. Furthermore, DLSE does not automatically assume that an employee was dishonest, acted willfully or was grossly negligent when an employer asserts such as a justification for making a deduction from an employee’s wages to cover a shortage, breakage, or loss to property or equipment. California Labor Code section 224 clearly prohibits any deduction from an employee’s wages which is not either authorized by the employee in writing or permitted by law, and any employer who resorts to self-help does so at its own risk as an objective test is applied to determine whether the loss was due to dishonesty, willfulness, or a grossly negligent act. If your employer made such a deduction and it is later determined that you were not guilty of a dishonest or willful act, or grossly negligent, you would be entitled to recover the amount of the wages withheld.

You're not being charged criminally. This is an employment law issue.