What are the legal options when a company overpays an employee by 33% for 1 yr?

[kalrith]

Update: They're not making us pay it back.

My wife's always been on salary, and she used to work 40 hours per week. She dropped to 30 hours per week, and her pay was supposed to drop to 75% of what it used to be. However, it didn't drop, and we didn't notice it. Her boss just noticed it, contacted HR, and said, "It's "really not good."

I haven't heard what they plan to do, but I'm wondering what (if any) are my legal options here. They mistakingly overpaid her. Do we have to legally pay back the difference? Can they dock her pay for the foreseeable future? I know that they can drop her to minimum wage any time they want, but if she went to another job, would she still have to repay the extra wages?

Thanks!

 

[darkxshade]

/lawnchair

 

[bigrash]

How could your wife not notice the drop in pay?

And yes, in the end you'll have to pay back.

 

[CPA]

They'll probably put you on some payment plan. You could also plead to have it paid over a longer period than 1 year and see if they bite. But, you will have to pay it back.

 

[FelixDeCat]

Sticky situation. She has to pay it back.

 

[GT1999]

I've been overpaid before by quite a bit. Never had to pay it back, not sure if that's because nobody caught it though. Don't assume she'll have to pay it back, but my guess is she will.

 

[Damn Dirty Ape]

Sticky situation. She has to pay it back.

this

 

[brblx]

i believe the law is not on your side, for some reason or another.

you don't sign a contract stating your pay, so frankly i've never quite understood how you can be held legally responsible, unless someone just cuts you an absurdly large check that is obviously in error.

but that's the good ol' USA- corporations first.

 

[ussfletcher]

Talk to a lawyer?

 

[GT1999]

Talk to a lawyer?

Maybe it's just me, but I wouldn't want to fight the company that's paying me.

 

[Vette73]

Yep she owes it. Happens in the Fed Gov, even when its not the person fault they have to pay it back.

Even the last private place I worked someone was getting night time pay and working day. It went on for about a year. Their fix was for him to work night for at least 1 year and get day pay.

And sorry, but if her pay was supposed to drop 25% she noticed and either did not tell or played dumb. Hell I had people calling me about their pay changing by less than $10 at the start of the year.

 

[zhwu]

It's all depends on what the company wants to do. Legally they can if they are willing to spend efforts.

I was overpaid by 5 days in my final paycheck when I left my last job. (They paid me 2 full weeks instead of 1 week I really worked)

I informed them (because I thought they forgot to take me out of their payroll and don't want to receive any more checks from them, figure they would let me keep the 5 days they overpaid since it's already in my account after I point out their mistake.) However, the company reverse the entire paycheck (bank direct deposit) they made 2 weeks ago. I had to bitch & moan to get back the money for the 5 days I worked. Later, they explain to me they can only reverse the entire direct deposit, not part of them.


I was really surprised (and pissed) to find out that my bank (Wells Fargo) let the company take back the entire direct deposit that's already sitting in my bank account for 2 weeks without evening trying to contact me first. So there must be some agreements for direct deposit that let the employer reserve any deposit they made earlier.

 

[JS80]

Talk to a lawyer?

No need. Our company just went through the same thing due to an ADP error. We consulted our lawyers and they said we have the right to take the money back. Obviously we thought about the consequences of pissing off half our employees so we let them keep it (it was ~8% overpayment over 9 months to non-exempt employees).

But of course they got pissed off after we told them they were getting overpaid and we had to adjust their pay down

 

[Bryophyte]

Obviously, she's going to have to pay it back. Hopefully they don't fire her for not turning it in for a year. Honestly, how do you not notice that for that long? It certainly sounds disingenuous to make a claim like that. Most people would notice when the first erroneous paycheck arrived and would mention it to the boss.

 

[Platypus]

How couldn't you notice her check didn't change after they told you it would? That alone makes you look pretty bad in their eyes.

 

[waggy]

How couldn't you notice her check didn't change after they told you it would? That alone makes you look pretty bad in their eyes.

i don't believe in the slightest that they didn't notice that it had not dropped.

they were just hoping that anyone else would notice.

 

[oogabooga]

Obviously, she's going to have to pay it back. Hopefully they don't fire her for not turning it in for a year. Honestly, how do you not notice that for that long? It certainly sounds disingenuous to make a claim like that. Most people would notice when the first erroneous paycheck arrived and would mention it to the boss.

Unfortunately this. It does look pretty bad that you didn't notice. If you had gone to HR after a year or something you might have some ground - but it's hard to believe that you didn't know at all until someone brought it up.

I don't imagine changing jobs would be a free ticket to keeping the extra pay. I'd imagine they'd have legal recourse to claim it even if she left to another job.

 

[TallBill]

Yeah I'm not buying it either. Everyone I've ever met checks every pay check they ever get.

 

[Newbian]

Perhaps if she is hot enough she can shake it a bit to pay the money back.

Pics pls.

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

uh huh... you just didn't notice it. riiiiiight.
"honey, i work 10 less hours a week now but my pay has remained the same."

i'm sure you also wouldn't have noticed it if they paid you $1 for the past year.

 

[kalrith]

I just checked, and it was for the past 9 months. Hopefully they'll just do something like pay her for 20 hours per week for the next 9 months and then put her back up to 30 hours per week of pay.

Thanks for the feedback. I assumed there was no way around paying it back, but I wanted to check anyways.

 

[Alone]

Not your money, no surprise you can't keep it.

Everyone knows what they got paid, otherwise you guys are financially stupid and don't budget at all, and make a fairly decent income to support this.

They'll garnish her wages, probably at a reasonable rate, until the balance is paid.

Their mistake, your fault.

 

[Kelvrick]

Hmm, I've been overpaid twice before. HR talked to me each time about the options though. The first time was when they didn't deduct my pre-tax parking fee ($155 a month) for about a year. I had the difference split into my next two paychecks.

The next time was right after tax season when I got what seemed to be a bonus. I promptly went cool and spent it. Turns out it was someone else's and I told them to take it out of my next paychecks.

 

[brblx]

I was really surprised (and pissed) to find out that my bank (Wells Fargo) let the company take back the entire direct deposit that's already sitting in my bank account for 2 weeks without evening trying to contact me first. So there must be some agreements for direct deposit that let the employer reserve any deposit they made earlier.

this is why you don't do direct deposit. ever read that form they make you sign? you're giving them the right to both add and remove money from your account at their whim.

 

[Platypus]

i don't believe in the slightest that they didn't notice that it had not dropped.

they were just hoping that anyone else would notice.

I'd like to give the OP the benefit of the doubt but that was my first thought too.