No, your employer may NOT do this. Amounts deducted from your paycheck for a savings plan like this are YOUR money and the employer has no right to it without your permission or consent. What the employer has done is actually a form of theft; you could potentially report the employer to the authorities, or sue to recover your money (or both). Bear in mind in deciding what to do that if the employer is illegally raiding employee money, there is likely either 1) embezzlement going on and/or 2) the company is in bad financial condition--either way, do not assume it will necessarily be paid back.