Do I have to pay former employer the money they overpaid me?
I put in my two weeks notice at my former job and they asked me to leave and not come back at the end of the day. I got my last paycheck and they say I was overpaid. They will not show me my pay stub so I can see what I was getting paid for. They just told me the amount that I owed them. I know that they did not pay me some of my PTO or my last day of work. Do I have to legally pay them back? I have tried to contact them numerous times on the phone and via email.
1 answer | asked Nov 13, 2012 4:56 PM [EST] | applies to Ohio
Answers (1)
If your employer can prove that it overpaid you, it can go to court and get an order requiring you to pay it back. You do not get to keep money because your employer, or someone else, like a bank, overpaid you. That only happens in the game of Monopoly.
If your employer can prove to your satisfaction that it overpaid you, you can save everyone the trouble of going to court by agreeing to pay the money back. If your employer will not even show you why it thinks it overpaid you, though, you can reasonably refuse to pay it back. In addition, if you can show that the employer owed you for something, like unpaid wages or PTO to which you are entitled at termination, then you can hold on to the money to satisfy that obligation. That is what is meant by "possession is 9/10ths of the law."
posted by Neil Klingshirn | Nov 14, 2012 07:33 AM [EST]
If your employer can prove to your satisfaction that it overpaid you, you can save everyone the trouble of going to court by agreeing to pay the money back. If your employer will not even show you why it thinks it overpaid you, though, you can reasonably refuse to pay it back. In addition, if you can show that the employer owed you for something, like unpaid wages or PTO to which you are entitled at termination, then you can hold on to the money to satisfy that obligation. That is what is meant by "possession is 9/10ths of the law."
posted by Neil Klingshirn | Nov 14, 2012 07:33 AM [EST]
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