Employer claims to have overpaid final check...What to do

[creekbend]

I will not resort to telling You and your Wife what to do, but IF my Wife and I faced such a request, We would keep the money, and have them take the PUNCH.

 

[300UGUY]

Good luck, LD1. That guy was wrong to say that.

 

[MacTractor]

My 2 cents on this because I have seen this before:

1.. First off, you wife has no responsibility in how her previous employer calculated her last payment.
2.. I would assume as others have posted, someone realized their error and they are now being held accountable, hence why they are trying to get your wife to pay up.
3.. Send a simple note stating that as far as you are aware, you were paid what was owed to you and if they feel different than this, please send the supporting material to substantiate this request and you will review and get back to them. If they send anything, respond with a short note that you disagree. No big explanations, no need to justify. The less the better in a response.
4.. Don't spend another minute or dime in dealing with this issue.

As others have stated:

1.. Who really knows what the deal is here as they have no records.
2.. If there was a mistake made and there is no responsibility in that mistake.

I have owned and run businesses for must of my career and have learned that it is not worth spending time on amounts such as these as the real cost in dealing with it will typically pale in comparison to the amount.

I have also learned that everything is posturing and a waste of time and energy until it is time to be in front of a Judge. (This is where any honest lawyer will tell you they make the most money) I would spend little or no time on it unless it goes to court, which I would put money that it won't.

Cheers and good luck.

 

[Egbert]

Think of it like this:

Vacation Leave is like being handed the option of days off or extra cash. This is quite common.
Sick Leave is being offered an excused absence from your obligation. This is not an "additional" income source. It is EXTREMELY rare for this to be compensated.

I recently retired and had over 120 days of sick leave accumulated to use or lose. While it may not speak well of me, let's just say I was sick a lot my last year. It was the only way I could get the value of the sick days I had never used.

For your situation, I would say your wife is lucky to no longer be working for a company that is so petty. Your biggest worry, I think, is the possible consequence to your credit rating if the company goes to collection. If you can stand the risk on your credit score, just tell the company and the collection agency to (____________ ____fill in the blank ___________ ____________ ).

 

[Rayster]

It was severance/vacation/sick pay accrued ... Will they produce paperwork for court and take the time to go after her? Sounds like they don't keep good records to begin with. Perhaps the accounting department should be on the hook for their mistake. You have the upper hand.

The credit issue is a concern. But they have to prove it, and a dispute could be more costly for them.

 

[TomSeller]

I would somehow get $560 in pennies and load them loose into the bucket of my FEL. I would drive to the office and dump them in front of the front door and take pictures as my evidence of payment. I doubt you would hear from them again.

 

[tractchores]

Just as a fyi they likely had to make a reasonable effort, then write off. If you don't respond at all then everyone is happy, if you do they then may have to make other reasonable efforts. So no response is a win/win

 

[hawkeye08]

A couple of comments..

Just ignore it unless you can find something in your records that indicate you are owed for sick time. Consider it junk mail.

Many large companies paid on sick leave for many years when someone left the company. It was the current wage times half the sick time remaining for us. Then they needed to reduce that liability so it changed and sick time no longer accumulates for us, but that old sick time is still there and will still be paid out when I leave the company.

The new policy gives time off for being sick two ways, one for hourly employees, one for salaried. The hourly folks get 6 days per year of "sick time", but if not used, it is paid out in Jan of the next year. Salaried get whatever they need, no tracking necessary (most salaried work 50-60 hrs per week, so taking a day here and there because you're sick does not bother anybody). If it is abused, then action will be taken.

 

[Midniteoyl]

My wifes previous employer claims they overpaid her ~$560 on her final check and now they are requesting the money to be paid back. Not sure how to handle this an looking for opinions.

Now the details...

Where she worked, she got 80 hours of vacation pay per year, and 80 hours of sick time per year she thinks. Not sure on the sick pay though.

She left this job Oct 4th LAST YEAR. Thats what bugs me.

She had taken 67 hours of vacation and 49 hours of sick pay in the year. They say they only owe her 60 hours vacation pay (I am assuming they pro-rate since she wasnt there a whole year). So thats 7 hours overpay on vacation and the balance was normal pay that was overpaid.

She called and questioned the sick time. They said they dont keep records of sick pay past 1 year. Real convenient. :confused2:

Either way, she is sure she had at least 1 week worth of sick pay left. (hard to remember over a year ago). The reason she didnt use much sick pay, and used vacation whenever possible, is cause vacation HAD to be used or lost, and sick pay rolls over indefinably. She worked their 3 years. She was thinking she had close to 60 hours of sick pay left.

Now, if all of this came about within a month or two of her leaving, and they still had records of sick pay, I think it would be easier to work out. ANd if indeed they did overpay her, I would have had no problem paying back.

But now here we are, in a differrent tax year, over 1 year later, and no way to get to the bottom of the sick pay. We feel we do not owe them anything, and she just assumed the last check (which was for more than the 3 days she worked) was because they paid her the balance of sick pay. Never really looked at the stub.

So what would you guys do? I told her to tell them forget about collecting the money until they can prove the sick pay issue one way or the other. Right now, we are expecting a baby in 4 weeks, I havent found a job yet and UE will run out mid december unless I can get extentions, dont have the best health insurance so the baby is likely going to cost us ~3k out of pocket, and the wife will be off for 6-8 weeks at only 2/3 pay. So not really the best time financially to get hit with this....

This is why I kept my pay stubs for 3 years..

Also, most companies, and the government, use a 'fiscal year' of Oct to Oct.. this is why they caught it now - they were doing the books for taxes and reporting purposes..

As for what to do? Have them show ALL the paper work and calculations, match them to yours as best you can, and if you can prove they are wrong, you are most likely outta luck.

edit: cant prove they are wrong...

 

[Midniteoyl]

I would ignore them. I doubt they would turn that over to a collection agency.

I had a similar experience in one of those surprise! --you are laid off-- things. Later they claimed they needed money back. I didn't respond in any way and that is the last I ever heard of it. My thought was, you have to be joking.

Had a doctors network send my wife to collections for WAY less than that AND bar her from using their doctors in the future.. And it was their fault.. So, dont count on a write off.