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Former employer overpaid final benefits to retiring employee. Is retiree legally responsible for repayment? |
After 29 years of employment, I retired. My final paycheck included my salary, vacation, sick, comp time, insurance, union dues and etc. With all the various benefits that I was being paid for & deducted, I had no idea that there was an overpayment, nor did my former employer until 1 month later. The money is gone (paid off bills) and now they have discovered their error, but have not indicated what amount is in question but have said they paid for all the sick time earned instead of a % of the sick time. Am I legally reponsible for repayment? Also, income taxes have been paid on the overpayment so how is that worked out if they are reimbursed? The tax issue is the easiest one to answer. You would get that back when you filed your return for 2007. It works like this. You would pay the money back. Your employer would decrease the amount of income on your W-2, but you tax withheld would stay the same. It isn't fair or right, but that would be the tax answer. The legal question is a little tougher. They are not going to be able to get a warrant sworn out for you under the circumstances. So, just being firm, but polite, in saying it is not your fault and it is an undue economic hardship to you, might just do the trick. Their recourse is to take you to court and see where it goes from there. Assuming you are dealing with fairly reasonable people and the dollars are not large, they will probably fold up the tent and go home. One last word of advice. Make sure your old manager is aware of the situation. Human Resources does some unethical stuff to cover their south side if they don't think anyone is watching. Good luck to you. Enjoy your well earned retirement. |
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