If you are SUPPOSEDLY overpaid can your employer take it all back off of your next paycheck?

Question

I have been working at a franchise for 4 months now and 2 months ago my paycheck was lost, so upon recieving my next paycheck 2 weeks later they decided to add on the amount from the lost paycheck to this one. Well when I recieved my next paycheck another two weeks later, 200.00 had been deducted. When I asked why, I was told it was because i was overpaid on the previous paycheck. Now I dont keep records but i was certainly not overpaid, and now i am out $200 and as a student, I need that. Is there anything I can do about this? Please help.

Answer 1

You should keep records. That's the only way you can fight this. Look for your check stubs, and make a calendar of days worked. Then bring this to your boss, and if he doesn't fix it, bring it to small claims court. But if you don't keep records, there's little you can do.

Answer 2

Well I am sure the company knows whether the check that was lost was cashed or not. In accounting procedures, all journal entries are left open concerning checks. When the statement from the company banks comes back and it indicates the check was cashed, then the appropriate journal entry is made.

Call the payroll department yourself and find out if that check was ever cashed. Your supervisor may have told them you received it. If it was cashed then you need to file a police report.

Once a company my mother worked at overpaid every employee by double their salary. Some people spent the money as it was Christmas time. Those people had to pay it back next check or risk going to jail.

Ask your company to look at the payroll hours submitted for the last few months by your supervisor and see if they are correct. In the future get a little book and write in your hours worked everyday.

Answer 3

unless the "lost" paycheck has been removed from your payroll file, when the additional funds were paid on the following paycheck, you were technically overpaid, and this overpayment can and should be taken back. if the original paycheck that turned up missing is still outstanding, you should be able to talk to your company's payroll/hr department for a replacement.

when someone is overpaid in the form of a couple hours, or a higher pay rate than they should've gotten, we immediately deduct the overpayment on the next paycheck. we try and let them know ahead of time, however. i know where i work, we don't like to "deduct" overpayment from an employee's check if it ends up making their current check less than minimum wage for the hours they worked. we try and go through HR to get the employee to actually refund the overpayment to us. we also never add money to another pay period's payroll check when an original goes missing. we void the original check and issue another check for the exact amount so there's an audit trail to show from where the extra check developed.

Answer 4

Well, you learned a valuable lesson now didn't you? Keep your stubs in the future. If your 'lost check' was cashed, you are not going to get the 200.
The proper thing to do is to explain in writing your concern and request the money be issued to you and if it isn't issued immediately, you would like a written explanation as to why. Then you give the paper (make a copy and have the person in charge of you sign the copy for your own records) to your superior and wait.
Without records, you really have no other options. You cannot go to the Labor Board with a ' uh duh i have no records.' If you are old enough to work you are old enough to take care of business properly.

Answer 5

Talk to them. There are probably several people in payroll and some didn't know about the lost check. Ask if the lost check had been cashed. If it has been, it was forged and you should report it to the police. If the check was returned to the company, report the forgery to them and ask them to hold the check. If their bank doesn't normally return cashed checks (a lot do that these days) ask then to contact the bank immediately to get either the actual check or a copy. If the person who cashed it deposited it, there will probably be a way for the police to trace their account.
If it wasn't cashed, the person you originally reported the loss to should help you straighten it all out.

Answer 6

If you are not keeping records, you have no way to prove your case. Why would you not keep your check stub? And if they added the amount on your previous check to make up for the lost check, you should have more money than you had.

Please take no offense, but you need to get help to manage and budget your money. Your question seems that you are unclear as to what you are supposed to receive. If you were overpaid, the company can take back what is theirs.

Answer 7

Ask them to look up to see if your lost paycheck was not cashed. If the lost check hasn't been cashed maybe they will be willing to cancel it and re-cut a new one.

It is a tough lesson but you can prevent these problems by keeping better records.

Answer 8

even if you don't keep good records - YOUR BOSS HAS A RECORD OF YOUR LOST PAYCHECK AND WHETHER OR NOT IT HAS BEEN CASHED.

Go to the Human Resource/Accounting department immediatly! Beware of answers posted here that do not know the law/facts/or your rights!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 9

If you are not keeping records, you have little recourse. Keep better records in the future! Consider this an inexpensive lesson.

Answer 10

They most certainly can. Sometimes they can take it right then and there. Ask you to pay it back BEFORE the next pay period. Bottom line: One way or another, you're gonna give it back.