Due to the attorneys and HR people I thought I’d ask this here. I live in Texas (which is an at will employment state) at a non union employer. A co-worker turned in his notice that he was quitting and gave them one weeks notice. Our pay is direct deposited every other week and my employer continued to pay him after he quit and he had to tell them to stop paying him and he gave the money back.

My question is first, if he didn’t tell them to stop giving him money after he quit could he have legally kept it until they stopped? I’m not asking for the moral answer since we already know that.

Second, can they just reverse the direct deposit and take the money back out of his account without asking him? He already rectified the problem after the first error but it got me wondering. I’m surprised he told them since they only paid him for half of the vacation he had built up when he quit.

No, they could have successfully sued him for the return of unearned money. No, they can't unilaterally electronically remove it from his account.

When you fill out a direct deposit permission slip thingy, isn't there some fine print that says you are also giving them permission to remove funds from your account to fix any errors? I though I remember reading that for one of my employers in the past and getting a chuckle.

I was "overpaid" three times with my prior employer. The first two events, I contacted HR and over two months each pay period 4 was "shorted" 25%.
Third time I let it ride. 90 days later received a certified letter stating the following next two pay periods will be "shorted" 50%.

I quit a job with a huge company and received a paycheck via direct deposit that I should not have gotten. Once they realized what happened HR called me and told me to not touch the money and that they'll withdraw it the next day. So, I'd say if I had moved the money away from them, their lawyers would get involved. Wasn't my money to have anyways.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: JohnV,

Thanks for the replies.

Wonder about tax ramifications? A coworker of mine at an old got two bonuses when he was only supposed to get one and they wanted him to write them a check for the amount he got. Seemed like he’d be taxed on money he never earned.

I got pink slipped at one company I used to work for. They sent me checks (non-direct deposit) for three months. I cashed every one of them and squirrelled the money into a separate account. The company then contacted me that I was not supposed to get the money as it was an payroll accounting mistake. I told them I assumed that it was some sort of severance pay and if it was a mistake, to take me to court if they wanted it back (I had hard feelings about the place). They tried to play hardball and threaten me with all sorts of BS, but I knew it was a simple civil matter all due to "their" mistake and the best they could do was get exactly what they over paid me because of their mistake and no more and since I was not employed there anymore, it wasn't like they could just dock my pay to get it back.

So they took me to court. Just before the case, the court forced a last arbitration attempt. At arbitration, I told them I had already spent part of the money (BS of course) would give them back 2/3 of the money right then and there, or they could go to court and spend more in attorney fees than they would ever get back from me, and or possibly lose if I argued that there was no reason for me not to believe it was some sort of severance pay since no communication was given over the original pink-slip or during the time the checks kept coming. They took the offer of course rather than spend more on attorney fees and lost wages by having to have a company rep there.

Yes I wanted to stick it to them, and did walk away with a several thousand even after reimbersing them 2/3. Was it right of me, probably not, but it was also not my mistake. Did I feel guilty about this shitty company that treated its workers so crappy. Nope. I enjoyed going to court and arguing, since at worst, I would have to pay it all back (couldn't hit me with more like lawyer fees since it was not my mistake) and I had never actually spent any of it. Forcing them to spend the attorney fees and go through the motions was my fun payback whether I would have had to pay it all back, or not.

It sounds as if you are proud of this episode, XerO.

I owed $$$ to an employer for relocation costs that I didn't vest into, and I paid it back shortly after I quit. Wrote them a check and worked with their payroll department to get the tax thing correct as they can easily make such adjustments.

Years later, I got rehired by the same company. I honestly don't think I would have been rehired had I kept their money. The hiring manager said he looked at my old records before hiring me back.

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:
It sounds as if you are proud of this episode, XerO.

A r0se, by any other name...