Do I write my old company a check?

[neufox47]

Old company maintains they overpaid me by $1500. They may or may not have a point. I need to look at the documents. For the sake of this discussion, let's say they are right. Should I give the cash back?

[digitaldeath]

hahahahah

never submit

morally you are only obligated if this is a mom and pop op


its every man for themselves

[PNWbrit]

Wage garnishing forum jong.

[DJSapp]

If they are a small mom and pop business, I'd say yes, as it could have been an honest mistake and will likely hurt them personally. All others who would squabble over an amount of $$ this small can GTFO. And if you're concerned about burning bridges, again, they're the ones being petty. You didn't ask for it, or steal shit on your last day. They made a mistake, they live with it.

Possession being 9/10th of the law and all, they have to prove that they shouldn't have paid you, and it wasn't a severance, cashing out PTO/vacation, or payment for deleting those pictures of your boss, etc. Legally you have done nothing wrong, and you'll see their true character the longer this goes on.

[ex-powderbroker]

It depends, are you an accountant or a dentist?

[Art Shirk]

Or not spend your time over-thinking this and drafting interrogatories and give them the money back if its not yours.

[PNWbrit]

Someone should lose their job over this.

[Danno]

Or not spend your time over-thinking this and drafting interrogatories and give them the money back if its not yours.

well, I think pio's questions are valid. If he received the money in 2014 and paid taxes on it, that matters. If he received the money in 2015 and had taxes taken out, that matters too (though not as much). and the circumstances matter too, reliance is a legit concept for a reason. If he knew it was an overpayment at the time, that's different than if he received the money innocently. "Give them the money back if it's not yours" is too simplistic to me.

[TBS]

I also think pio asks some reasonable questions here.
Another issue - some companies ask outgoing employees to sign a release that says in essence "in exchange for this final payment of your wages, bonus, hush money, etc, both you and company agree to not sue the other for any reason in the future". If you signed one of these, then Company is fucked.

[digitaldeath]

inquire as to how they plan on spending it

[irul&ublo]

hahahahah

never submit

morally you are only obligated if this is a mom and pop op


its every man for themselves

Sez the guy who drives a pink Hyundai

[Conundrum]

Pio asks some good questions. Also, is it something you should have easily noticed when the mistake was made? Were you a commissioned employee that maybe one of their clients canceled and now are asking for payback? If you were not there, it wasn't your fault they didn't retain the client. Did they forget to withhold for benefits you were receiving? Did you bang the boss's daughter?

[Steven S. Dallas]

Did you bang the boss's daughter?

You can get paid for that?

I am in the wrong line of work.

[digitaldeath]

Sez the guy who drives a pink Hyundai

i dont get you shitty put down

[MakersTeleMark]

So, you are saying that in the total course of your employment, you never worked a minute over your paid hours?

[Skidog]

Easiest answer is clearly Pio's...easy enough to draft a letter asking. Can't hurt....

So c'mon....did you know you weren't supposed to get that much? I mean personally i would totally notice, I don't know how i'd handle it if i noticed (i.e. would i cash check), but i would notice.

Or send them this (sorry i suck at th3 embeddinzzz)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFCuyLwhUzM

[Dhelihiker]

I would say sure but I charge $1600 for a transaction fee, you'll just owe me another $100. I can save you some money and just keep it.

[BCMtnHound]

Been there. For about the same dollar amount. Throughout it seemed that the accounting/payroll people were trying to get it resolved very quickly, as if trying to hide their blunder. After the total amount changed for the 3rd time during discussions, I demanded a detailed itemization of all the errors in payment, and a signed statement by a senior accountant as to exactly why the overpayment happened. I received no further requests for repayment after that.

[alfajores]

My ex had this happen when they didnt take her off payroll and she kept receiving paychecks after quitting. Somehow, she didn't see anything wrong with spending that money and ended up having to set up payments. This was the Federal Government. Highly recommend paying them back if you are not certain it belongs to you there. Small companies need that money. Big companies should consider it your bonus. Especially if it was for the prior year and already taxed.

[Danno]

Somehow, this picture seems appropriate.

[DJSapp]

^^^ excellent point above. If it was the government, work with them. They don't send lawyers letters, they send the feds to collect you for defrauding the government.

[irul&ublo]

It will also depend where you are. State laws on this vary,

[mmmm...pow!]

Tell them your policy is to give them a store credit

[RShea]

Definitely want to insure their new figures add up and can be verified. The other issue is as stated what are the state laws involved and as mentioned how long ago was the payment and whether there was circumstances like commissions involved etc. You could also negotiate with them if they expect the payment in a single check. Even if you are in a position that you can afford to stroke them the full amount immediately without hurting your budget or having to dip into investments, it could be better to see if they would accept a payment plan spread over time.

[VTeton]

If they sent you the money via direct deposit, write a signed letter to your bank prohibiting xyz company from adding or withdrawing funds from your account. They can pull the $ back.