I organize a lottery pool at work.  Recently, the manager of our mill
stated that if money is gathered for the pool during work hours, she
would take the group to court to try to get equal distribution among
all employees should the group hit the jackpot, or at the very least
keep the money tied up in court.  Workplace pools win lotteries quite
often and I've never heard of an employer doing this.  Is this just an
idle threat, or can the company really do this?

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Clarification of Question by thirdeye68-ga on 13 Feb 2006 10:04 PST

Also, I should add that the employer in question is in Oklahoma.

I'm no legal expert, but my opinion is that she could keep it tied up
in court by paying some lawyer(s)(would it be worth i to her?). I
think,to be safer, I'd collect the money on unpaid time. I also would
think that anyone who did not contibute would have no claim.(no risk)
I would also be carefull as gambling may be against company policy.

Are you able to collect the money during tea breaks or lunch hour? I'd
certainly be keeping a record of the actual time that people paid,
(when they tick off their names, e.g. Pammie: PAID 6.32 pm 12 Feb.) If
you're in a union, it would be worth asking your rep to find out for
you.

(And if you're not in a union, with a miserable control freak of a
manager like that, you *need* to be! Why *do* people like that get
promoted to management positions??!!)