Do I legally have to pay this money back?

Question

Folks... I just got a new job. However, back in June I got a 17 thousand dollar raise at my old job. This raise was dramatic but I was hired at a very, very low rate. The raise brought me to 55k a year.

Today I get a call from my old boss. He said they made a mistake in payroll and I was being overpaid. They had me down in the system at 80K per year. I honestly did not know the difference in my checks because the raise was dramatic in the first place (17,000 more a year). Do I have to pay them this money back? Any information and/or legal advice would be appreciated

There was no contact at all. He said I will give you 55K a year.

****Sorry no contract

I did not notice it. I seen the initial amount at the time of the increase and then made sure the net amount was right on every check. This went of for 6 months. Ready for this... The company is a payroll company.

Answer 1

haha no... don't even think of paying them a cent back. It is their payroll mistake so **** em. Tell your old boss he has no buisness calling you because you no longer work there and the money has already been cashed.

Answer 2

Sounds like you should definitely talk to a lawyer. Different states have all kinds of different laws on this. I would wonder for how long a period did they overpay you? If they overpaid you for a year, maybe you could claim it was an established pattern and that you should be able to keep the money. If they only paid you a few months before you quit, then I'd say they'd have a case that it was an innocent mistake and should get the money back. Also, you're talking about an extra $2,000+ per month and you didn't notice??

Answer 3

If the IRS had sent you too much money, they would expect it back and could levy fines and penalties if you had already cashed the check. Luckily, you aren't dealing with the IRS :-)

It sounds like it was their mistake, and although it was made in good faith, it was still made. If you were still working for them they might try to decrease your salary for a period of time to even out the cost to all parties involved. But since you are no longer employed and provided your services as an employee for the compensation they provided, I think you should be in the clear.

Naturally, the length of time you were overpaid would effect the total amount you were overpaid and the ease with which they could write off the amount and/or you could pay it back. If there's any chance they could say you took the money fraudulently (like knowing it was too much and not saying anything and/or leaving before they found out), then you might want to be open to negotiations with them because that would be considered a criminal charge. Otherwise, they likely won't try to recoup the money because the legal expense would outweigh the gains.

Answer 4

You really need to talk to a lawyer. Most lawyers worth their salt will give you some initial advice for free, I'd call around and get some opinions on that. Like most legal issues, it all depends on the facts of the case, and you haven't presented enough. In other words, did they notify you of how much your raise would be? In writing? If so, and there was an agreement, you probably have to pay the money back. Very rarely are you going to be entitled to keep money simply because of a computer glitch. It's not like it can be considered a gift, since you worked for the place. Good luck.

Answer 5

Of course you have to pay it back. You cannot benefit from some one's innocent mistake. You are only entitled to what your contract says.

However courts in UK have ruled that if the overpayment was a little while ago, you are entitled to pay it back in installments over a reasonable time.

Answer 6

The payroll department should have caught that from the start. I say hang on to it.

Answer 7

NO WAY! there isn't anything that they can do about that, my uncle is a lawyer and i asked them, he got a good laugh from it though.