What to do if I didn’t receive my paycheck but it cleared the bank?

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What to do if I didn’t receive my paycheck but it cleared the bank?

My employer sent my paycheck via UPS to my job, however I never received it. When I contacted my employer, they told me the check already been cleared the bank. They requested a copy of the check copy and sent it to me. It appears that someone else cashed it into his/her account. Can I sue the bank, my employer or the one that cashed the check?

Asked on September 17, 2012 under Employment Labor Law, Florida

Answers:

SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 11 years ago | Contributor

You can definitely sue the person who cashed your check--what they did is wrongful, and provides both a basis for a lawsuit and also grounds to press criminal charges.

You cannot sue your employer unless you can show the employer did something carelessly (or deliberately) wrong--like addressing the check to the wrong person.

In theory you should be able to sue the bank for not taking care to check that the correct person was cashing the check, but in practice, I'm not aware of people winning on this basis--it's hard to show that the bank was sufficiently negligent (or unreasonably careless) as to warrant liability. It is most likely not worth trying this.


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