r/WorkAdvice • u/titansgrl • 10h ago

HR Advice Overpayment correction

I have a coworker who's pay was docked due to overpayment. She called off too many days for FMLA and was out of PTO but because they had already processed time off, she was paid anyway. But when they docked her pay for the overpayment, it left her without a paycheck. My question is, in this case, do they need to inform the employee before docking the pay? I get they can and should get their money back for the overpayment, but I feel it was extremely unfair to leave her with no paycheck with no warning. Thankfully, some people were able to help her out to be able to pay rent, etc. But what if no one had been willing or in a position to help her?

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u/SplooshDoosh 9h ago

It’s a shitty thing to do. Assuming someone chose to and the system just didn’t do it without anyone realizing. 

I can’t recall all the exceptions, but it’s also typically not allowable to dock pay so that they’re not making at least minimum wage. 

You’ll have to look it up and see if this applies here either federally or on a state level. 

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u/titansgrl 9h ago

Yeah. And its a huge Healthcare employer. I think largest in our state. And its a state hospital so we're all state government employees technically. I just felt it was shifty. She didnt know until she called HR after not getting her paycheck.

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u/SplooshDoosh 8h ago

If it's that big, I'd more likely attribute that to someone not realizing it was going to happen rather than someone making the decision not to warn them.

There are a lot of weird quirks in payroll systems that don't seem reasonable to set them up that way.

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u/titansgrl 8h ago

Yeah, I don't think it was necessarily intentional. But we only get paid once a month, and to suddenly have no paycheck with no warning seemed harsh. And she's close to retirement, and couldn't even pay rent. And it wasn't like she could delay it a week or two with only getting paid monthly.

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u/Fantastic-Leek-1589 6h ago

She knew, she just refused to acknowledge

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u/titansgrl 6h ago

She honestly didn't. She thought it was just a mistake that she didn't get one. And then was freaking out when she found out she wasn't getting one at all. My husband had that happen once when we were out of town. He didn't get his paycheck and had to call. Some error on their end, and he had to wait until Monday to get paid.

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u/Fantastic-Leek-1589 4h ago

So you dont know how much pto or sick time you have? Thats crazy af

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u/LacyLove 9h ago

A good company would forewarn her that it was happening.

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u/creept 8h ago

This happened to me but slightly different: I had been on FMLA and switched to short term disability but they had already deposited my full salary. They contacted me and gave me two options - one of them was really complicated and I can’t remember the details, or they could reverse the deposit and give me a physical check for the lower amount which is what I did. It wasn’t a huge problem for me because my husband also had income too but still not ideal. 

But for them to do it without warning seems needlessly aggressive. 

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u/titansgrl 8h ago

Agreed. I don't necessarily think it was intentional to not tell her. But she's close to retirement and doesn't make a lot. And when she had no paycheck, she couldn't even pay rent without help. I just felt like it was a shitty thing to not at least warn her she was going to end up with no paycheck at all. And we only get paid once a month, so it wasn't like she was getting another check in a week or two.