Last Check for Termed Employee OverPaid (sue, job, company, spend)

[CTR36]

Here's the deal, my brother who is self employed had an employee who resigned. THey finaled him out by cutting him his last check and paid him off any unused vacation etc. Well his bookeeper/payroll clerk miscalculated the time this employee had left to the tune of $3400. So in essence they paid him for time he already took off. Well they didn't discover this until 2 days after giving him the check, and of course the guy had already cashed it and spent it. The payroll clerk then mailed a certified letter to him telling him of the mistake and to please return the money to them within 10 days. What kind of legal recourse do they have? An employee overheard the guy stating that was not his problem that they made a mistake and he already spent the money. Can they take him to small claims court? I think this guy is very unscrupulous, b/c if it was me I would have seen the check and if it was for WAY more than I was expecting I would have brought it to the payroll clerk's attention to have it corrected. THe fact that he just went and cashed it and spent it right away knowing that was not his money, tells me a lot about his character or lack thereof. BTW, this guy was meticulous about keeping track of his unused time. He took time off all the time but he had been working there for several years.
Opinions? Advice?

[Ultrarunner]

As always, the problem is not if your right, but, will you be able to collect if you are proven right in court and you will have to do the proving...

I can see this going to court and the former employee pleading ignorance and hard times...

Who knows... the judge may require the amount to be repaid over a period of years... anything is possible...

[bibit612]

You could take him to court. My former employer had overpaid me and they sent me a letter stating the amount overpaid. However, I knew they overpaid and made sure I did not spend the money so I immediately cut a check back. Somewhere in the letter it had said that they are within their rights to collect it back and to pursue legal action. Actually, this has happened to me twice and it both cases, I returned the money back. Just was not worth it...

[KevK]

You could sue and probably win if it is worth your time. I would.

[NewJersey?]

This doesn't reaaly help, but this also happened with us. Temp company paid my wife for 80 hours of work ($3400) after she had quit this job several months back. It was direct deposited into our checking account! lol We called them immediately and pointed it out.

A few weeks later... ANOTHER direct deposit for another 80 hours of work.. lol She had only worked part time for this agency about 6 hours a week, and they were now paying her as a full time employee with direct deposit!

We called AGAIN to point out that it happened again. It seems like someone had placed her on the full time employee payroll. Had we kept quiet about it, we would have received $3400 every 2 weeks for a while. Not bad. Damn our honesty! lol jk

During the phone conversations pointing out the errors, we never even got a "Thank you for telling us about it" from them. Ehh, whatever.

Anyway, this doesn't help the OP, sorry, but just thought I'd throw it in there.

Good luck with that. At least you know he let go of the right employee. ha.

[RoaminRed]

Originally Posted by NewJersey?

This doesn't reaaly help, but this also happened with us. Temp company paid my wife for 80 hours of work ($3400) after she had quit this job several months back. It was direct deposited into our checking account! lol We called them immediately and pointed it out.

A few weeks later... ANOTHER direct deposit for another 80 hours of work.. lol She had only worked part time for this agency about 6 hours a week, and they were now paying her as a full time employee with direct deposit!

We called AGAIN to point out that it happened again. It seems like someone had placed her on the full time employee payroll. Had we kept quiet about it, we would have received $3400 every 2 weeks for a while. Not bad. Damn our honesty! lol jk

During the phone conversations pointing out the errors, we never even got a "Thank you for telling us about it" from them. Ehh, whatever.

Anyway, this doesn't help the OP, sorry, but just thought I'd throw it in there.

Good luck with that. At least you know he let go of the right employee. ha.

After I'd told them once, I wouldn't have told them again. I'd have opened a separate account, transferred that money into it, and just let it sit there accruing interest until the mistake was discovered and they asked for it back. :P

[Driller1]

Wow, the guy just may need a reference some day. I would have a long memory.