Company wants us to pay due accounting fault

[Leo]

Hello All,

I'm kinda frustrated right now so I really want some 'legal' and good advice. Here's the situtation.

Let's just say my wife's employer increased her salary to $15/hour on September 2015 verbally. Since then, she's only getting $1200 per semi-monthly. That is a full time job 40 hours a week. If my calculation is correct, she's supposed to get $2500 per month instead of $2400.

Now, here's the twist. Her employer's former accountant made a mistake and since September 2015, my wife is earning around $1081 per semi-month take home after taxes. Turns out, she's supposed to only earn $1018.

Her employer wants us to pay them back total of $756.

My wife is going to quit either way but I just wanted to get some advice on what's legal and what to do in our current situation. Do we need to pay it back? Also do I have something regarding the missing $100 per month?

UPDATE: We are in California.

Thank you.

[bjl584]

was there ever an agreement in writing?

Not sure if a verbal agreement would hold up in court. But, I'm not an attorney.

[Leo]

was there ever an agreement in writing?

Not sure if a verbal agreement would hold up in court. But, I'm not an attorney.

Not in writing.

[bjl584]

Not in writing.

I'd call an attorney. You might just have to walk away from this situation and chalk it up as a lesson learned.

Good luck.

[Jluke]

Hello All,


Now, here's the twist. Her employer's former accountant made a mistake and since September 2015, my wife is earning around $1081 per semi-month take home after taxes. Turns out, she's supposed to only earn $1018.

Was the gross pay wrong to begin with?

did they take less out of her paycheck and that is why the NET pay is higher?

think we're missing some details.

[disneysteve]

think we're missing some details.

I agree.

When she got paid every 2 weeks, what did it say on the pay stub? Was the hourly rate correct? If not, why did she never bring it to anyone's attention?

If they claim to have overpaid her due to an accounting error, why can't they just adjust going forward to recapture that amount or deduct it from her next check. I actually just had a similar situation due to a change in health insurance premiums that hadn't been properly accounted for. So I got one "short" paycheck to account for the fact that I was underpaying for a few months.

[Leo]

Their company is kinda shady. With the former accountant, she is not getting anything besides a check of $1081.

Now with the new accountant, she finally receive a pay stub. Pay says Salary without any Hours or Rate but just Current of $1,200. Total Taxes all together including Federal Income Tax, Social Security, Medicare, CA Income Tax, CA State Disability Ins is $181.29

The summary says Total Pay of $1200, minus taxes of $181.29 then Net Pay is $1018.71

Do we need to pay the company back?

[disneysteve]

Their company is kinda shady. With the former accountant, she is not getting anything besides a check of $1081.

Now with the new accountant, she finally receive a pay stub. Pay says Salary without any Hours or Rate but just Current of $1,200. Total Taxes all together including Federal Income Tax, Social Security, Medicare, CA Income Tax, CA State Disability Ins is $181.29

Do we need to pay the company back?

My wife is going to quit either way

Sorry to say but I'd place blame on both parties in this mess. The company clearly was doing stuff inappropriately and possibly illegally. At the same time, your wife was accepting it.

I'd stand by what I said above. Let them adjust her next check (or next few checks) to make up the difference. And then she needs to get her butt out of there and get a job where they know what the heck they're doing in the payroll department.

[Fishindude77]

I agree with DS comments.
Only exception is, she doesn't need to quit if she likes the work and her coworkers. Just watch things very carefully each pay period going forward and don't let things get out of hand again.

[Like2Plan]

Hello All,

I'm kinda frustrated right now so I really want some 'legal' and good advice. Here's the situtation.

Let's just say my wife's employer increased her salary to $15/hour on September 2015 verbally. Since then, she's only getting $1200 per semi-monthly. That is a full time job 40 hours a week. If my calculation is correct, she's supposed to get $2500 per month instead of $2400.

Now, here's the twist. Her employer's former accountant made a mistake and since September 2015, my wife is earning around $1081 per semi-month take home after taxes. Turns out, she's supposed to only earn $1018.

Her employer wants us to pay them back total of $756.

My wife is going to quit either way but I just wanted to get some advice on what's legal and what to do in our current situation. Do we need to pay it back? Also do I have something regarding the missing $100 per month?

UPDATE: We are in California.

Thank you.

I agree with Disneysteve. She needs to have a payslip for each pay period which accounts for her pay and withholding. Ask for the payslips for the previous pay periods. Also, ask for an accounting of the payback figure. I would not pay anything back until they provided that information.

When you say she is getting paid semi-monthly--does that mean she is paid on the 1st and the 15th of each month?
I am surprised that they are not accounting on a hourly basis. Or is this a contract? Anything I come up with would just be a guess--But, if they are paying her the same amount each pay I would figure 15.00/hour X 2080 (hours a year) /24 (pay periods-if paid twice monthly) = 1300 (gross before deductions).

[disneysteve]

she doesn't need to quit if she likes the work and her coworkers

It would bother me that they aren't handling their money properly. I can't help but wonder if that is a symptom of a deeper financial problem within the company. What are they hiding by not giving paystubs? Are taxes being paid correctly - or at all? Was her W-2 or 1099 correct? I'd be very curious to know the company's tax situation.

[snafu]

I presume DW is an hourly rated employee. Was there a change in pay by the end of September to reflect an increase in hourly rate? If not, what action did wife take to collect her new, anticipated rate? A verbal agreement is just hot air. Was the increase in take home coincidentally in September? Was it the wrong amount? Did DW take any action to have it corrected?

It is the responsibility of employer to prove the sums paid were incorrect. Was the withholding done correctly, based on pre September hourly rate? How does this affect federal and state income tax, medical, SS deductions? I believe it's the responsibility of the employer to prove their demand.

[autoxer]

Now, here's the twist. Her employer's former accountant made a mistake and since September 2015, my wife is earning around $1081 per semi-month take home after taxes. Turns out, she's supposed to only earn $1018.

They must of given you a W-2 for 2015, were the numbers on that correct?

[Leo]

Sorry to say but I'd place blame on both parties in this mess. The company clearly was doing stuff inappropriately and possibly illegally. At the same time, your wife was accepting it. .

Yeah, I agree that the blame is on both parties. My wife and I should have demanded the paystub in the beginning when she got a raised and we should have check everything including her gross pay and net pay.

I agree with DS comments.
Only exception is, she doesn't need to quit if she likes the work and her coworkers.

• She likes the work (day to day responsibilities)
• She likes the coworker
• She does not like the pay of $15, and now that we found out that it's actually less
• She does not like the boss because the boss is not professional (making my DW run some personal errands for the boss, etc)
• She wants to quit but not right away, maybe in few months because she does not want to look like she is job hopping or something

I agree with Disneysteve. She needs to have a payslip for each pay period which accounts for her pay and withholding. Ask for the payslips for the previous pay periods. Also, ask for an accounting of the payback figure. I would not pay anything back until they provided that information.

When you say she is getting paid semi-monthly--does that mean she is paid on the 1st and the 15th of each month?
I am surprised that they are not accounting on a hourly basis. Or is this a contract? Anything I come up with would just be a guess--But, if they are paying her the same amount each pay I would figure 15.00/hour X 2080 (hours a year) /24 (pay periods-if paid twice monthly) = 1300 (gross before deductions).

She is. It's not a contract, It is supposed to be hourly, not salary of $15, but from our calculations, looks like they are not paying correctly.

They must of given you a W-2 for 2015, were the numbers on that correct?

It would bother me that they aren't handling their money properly. I can't help but wonder if that is a symptom of a deeper financial problem within the company. What are they hiding by not giving paystubs? Are taxes being paid correctly - or at all? Was her W-2 or 1099 correct? I'd be very curious to know the company's tax situation.

We got the W-2 but I haven't check that yet. Will do that when I get home I think the taxes is paid correctly. I'll double check.

I presume DW is an hourly rated employee. Was there a change in pay by the end of September to reflect an increase in hourly rate? If not, what action did wife take to collect her new, anticipated rate? A verbal agreement is just hot air. Was the increase in take home coincidentally in September? Was it the wrong amount? Did DW take any action to have it corrected?

From the first couple months, she's at $12/hr as a 1099. On September, they made her W-2 Employee then they increased her to $15 verbally. She always just gets a check. I think the personal check increased from 700-800 to $1081.

---

Thanks guys for the reply.

I think what went wrong is that the company does not do direct deposit and maybe the former accountant made a mistake by putting 1081 instead of 1018 in the check.

My wife is going to talk to the boss and accountant today and see what happens. She will ask for all the pay stub from the beginning, and what we owe in writing then we'll write a check. She will also discuss the current salary

Worst case, she is going to quit her job and we will pay what we owe. We can live without her income in our current situation but hopefully she gets a new job within 1-2 months if she quits.

[Like2Plan]

My wife is going to talk to the boss and accountant today and see what happens. She will ask for all the pay stub from the beginning, and what we owe in writing then we'll write a check. She will also discuss the current salary
.

Hopefully they will pay her the money they owe her. I think I see what may have happened if they are paying her 1200 gross. They are dividing by 26 where it should be 24.

If your wife was being paid every 2 weeks, then she would be paid 26 times a year (and there would be a 27th pay period --something like every 11th year). So, take 15 X 2080 / 26 = 1200

But, since she is paid twice a month--the total should be divided by 24.