Am I required to repay an employer who claims that I have been overpaid after being fired?
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Am I required to repay an employer who claims that I have been overpaid after being fired?
I was terminated from an employer after working with them over a year. Before I was terminated, I was placed on suspension for an unknown period of time. After about a week, I was contacted by the company since the person responsible for dealing with my situation was unavailable at the time of suspension. The advice given by this person was it would be best if I simply quit so that I would not have termination on my record, which I agreed to. I worked for about 4 days on the pay schedule before being terminated, so therefore got paid on the next pay day. I was then contacted by this employer some time later stating that they owed me money which they were unable to pay and wanted to know if I would accept a check instead of a direct deposit. I was unsure of what this payment was for but considering how I was terminated, waiting over a week to know of the conclusion of my suspension, I simply
figured that I was owed money that I was unaware of. A few days after receiving and depositing the check I was once again contacted by the company and told that I had already been paid fully and that it was simply an error by their computers that stated I still had money to receive. The odd request made by the company is not that I return the last payment of the check, but that I return the payment of less value, which would be the direct deposit received on the last pay day. Am I required to return this money?
Asked on October 7, 2016 under Employment Labor Law, Arkansas
Answers:
M.D., Member, California and New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 7 years ago | Contributor
No, you are required to re-pay this money. As an employer (or former employee), your legal right is to be paid the agreed upon amount of compensaton for your work, no more and no less. Think about it, your employer would not be entitled to keep your money if they accidentally underpaid you.
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