What's Calif. law when Company has overpaid employee for a long time? Does empl. have to pay it back?

Answer 1

I actually found this really interesting as it has happened before with the companies I have worked for and the employees are docked the money. They always knew and were honest about it though. Were you not aware that you were being over paid?

My guess is yes, unless you want to make a scene and say that you had no idea you were being overpaid that you will have to pay iot back, but generally can do it in chuncks over time as someone is at fault here.

I found the following under what the State of CA does for their own employees when this happens..
When an employee has been overpaid, an A/R is established and provides a method by which the overpayment can be recovered. The Department is responsible for the prompt collection of all A/Rs. Recovery shall be made in accordance with the procedures set forth in Government Code Sections 1153C, 12475, 19838, and State Administrative Manual (SAM) Sections 8580.2, 8581, 8593-8593.4, 8790.1, and 8790.55.

Overpayments occur for various reasons, such as: dock, late dock, leave over usage and departmental errors with salary, effective dates, etc. The State Controller’s Office (SCO) establishes A/Rs for deduction arrearages such as retirement, Social Security, Medicare, savings bonds and other deductions. The following are commonly used A/R terms and describe the process when an A/R has occurred:

 Dock-Time (days & hours) on dock that is keyed into PAL (current month) prior to the cutoff date will interface with SCO and the reduction in pay will be reflected on the warrant received at the end of the pay period.

 Late Dock-Dock that is keyed into PAL after the SCO cutoff date that is not reflected on the warrant. The warrant will be returned to SCO and a salary advance will be given on payday, unless Collective Bargaining contracts/MOUs specify otherwise. Collective Bargaining contracts/MOUs may limit the number of late dock salary advances an employee may receive in a calendar year.





HR 03-006
January 27, 2003
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 Leave Errors-In the event of an over usage of available leave credits, the Personnel Specialist will make changes to PAL, deduct time from the SCO Leave Accounting System (LAS) and notify the employee, attendance clerk and supervisor. If an A/R is necessary, the Personnel Specialist will send additional information regarding the overpayment as outlined below (See Sample Attachment A).

 Salary Overpayments-A salary overpayment may occur for reasons such as: unreported shift changes, an employee appointed with an incorrect salary, range or MSA date. If an A/R is necessary, the Personnel Specialist will notify the employee, agree to a plan and collections will be made accordingly.

If I were you I would go to the local department. I have attached the website for you below for the state. Email or call and they are usually pretty friendly and can answer your questions.

Good luck!

Answer 2

Your employer might just make cuts in your pay until the difference has been payed for.