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What would you do if your employer overpaid you with $1200 dollars, and you made them aware of their error right away. However after several follow up e mails and phone calls , still, 3 months later they have yet to collect the money from you.
Would you just sit there with the money in your account until they decide they want the money back, or would you keep reminding them?
And once they do realize they want their money, can they just deduct it out of your check without telling you?
They can ask you to pay it back. They are not able to take it from your check as that would be an illegal deduction, but they can ask that you give them back money that is not legally yours.
This is not just some small company where you can march into payroll HR and hand them over a check. The thing is, I realized the misstake myself. If I hadn't said anything they wouldn't have noticed sense all payroll is completely automated. This is a very large, probably one of the largest company in the country.
Once I noticed the Error, I called and e mailed the HR Parroll department multible times about this issue and the only response was "we have to get back to you once we know what is going on". That was 3 months ago now.
I know that 1200 is pocket change to this people and they might not come back for the money until months from now.
Last edited by glass_of_merlot; 06-24-2012 at 09:33 AM..
I would set aside the $1200.00 in a savings account if you are able to do so. The company will want to get it from you sometime in the future. They often catch their own errors later, even since you already pointed it out to them. Frustrating obviously, but what you describe is typical bureaucratic ways of large businesses.
I would set aside the $1200.00 in a savings account if you are able to do so. The company will want to get it from you sometime in the future. They often catch their own errors later, even since you already pointed it out to them. Frustrating obviously, but what you describe is typical bureaucratic ways of large businesses.
Most states have specific wage payment laws that regulate issues like yours. Generally, they allow the employer to recover the over payment. In some states, however, time limits are placed on the employer within which time limits the employer must act. After that time passes -- in those states -- the error cannot be recovered by the employer. Regardless of the law, you have certainly done the right thing by putting your employer on notice of the error.
Now that the money has been deposited into your account, the employer has no right to take it from your account. As for future checks, most states permit only certain deductions to be taken without prior written authorization from the employee. Usually, those deductions are for taxes and benefit plans like retirement and insurance. BUT, not all states require written authorization for deductions, and no federal law requires it. If you are in such a jurisdiction where no written authorization is required to take a deduction, the employer could withhold the money from a future check PROVIDED THAT the total amount paid on the check still is equal to or greater than the minimum wage in your state. Another way employers can recover money from employees is by informing the employee that the employee's pay rate will be reduced in future pay periods. Again, as long as the pay is not reduced below minimum wage the reduction would be permissible, and the employee generally can only respond to such an announced intended pay cut by quitting before working the reduced rate hours.
So the short story is: your safest route is to keep the $1200 in a safe place until you know for certain that the employer is not going to ask for it back. I assume your are employed in the U.S. So, For more specific advice about this issue, you might have some luck by contacting BOTH the U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division AND the equivalent state agency in your state. If you can reach someone at the US DOL, ask them what the equivalent state agency is in your state, and the US DOL can direct you.
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