Left on the payroll - what would you do?
Hey Fellow Monkeys,
Let’s say you left a job in the somewhat recent past and you realized that your previous company left you on the payroll and you mistakenly began to continue to receive your typical paycheck beyond what you were owed. What would you do? Milk it for a bit, tell the company right away, not say anything and ride the wave as long as you could and plead plausible deniability?
It's called wage theft; if caught you can be in big trouble. Lots of cases have been like this, and it's ugly for the person getting the paychecks they're not owed
Yep this is exactly right. If you pay it back, is it the gross amount?
IANAL but I'd guess it'd be the net amount since they already would've done all the tax withholdings and elected benefits, etc before depositing anything in your account. I'm sure there's a follow-on about how to deal with the IRS fallout next year, but I'll leave that to I don't know because I haven't had to and I don't want to know what that answer is either.
Did my guy just use IANAL to say I am not a lawyer!?!?!?
Haha wild acronym to use but got it - asking because most clawbacks and what not are due back in gross given the firm does the tax withholding and you deal with the tax stuff later when you file. Never a good deal for you in that situation usually.
Pretty sure it'd be similar to a clawback and actually be the gross amount - up to you to claim the taxes back from the IRS
Might get MS but I would just tell them... they legally can get the money back once they find out, which is kinda a problem if you've already spent it. Not worth it, finance is a small world and your reputation is everything.
If you want the fun answer, go watch Office Space again and pretend what you'd do as Milton.
If you want the real answer, you can either pay it back now and look at retaining an attorney in case, or keep it and use it to pay for the attorney you'll need because you're skipping the "just in case" step.
100% let them know and pay it back. Yes, it’s the boring answer but, even ethics aside, it’s by far the most practical. They will find out, maybe tomorrow, maybe in a year, maybe in 3, but eventually someone will audit payroll and notice what’s happening. At that point, they will come after you (and after the first month, maybe two no one will believe you didn’t notice or thought it was actually due to you).
They will definitely pursue you for wage theft, and if anyone calls them for a reference in the future (which will happen even if you don’t list them) would you rather the response be “great employee, upstanding moral character through and through” or “fucker tried to steal from us”?
A month or two they might not even bother trying to get back, the longer you go the more hardcore they will be. Be honest and see what happens.
Not worth burning a career long reputation over a pay check or two. They will inevitably find out. Do the right thing.
You´re so fucked if they find out, m8. Love me some illegal stuff now and then, but don´t fuck with institutional money, or atleast don´t get caught.
I resigned from a company and they kept paying me for 3 months after. I told them the first paycheck, but they said it was ok and they wanted me to come back, but I never did. They said to keep the money.
lol wtf
So alpha
I get it if you're actively scheming to stay on payroll and routinely moving money out of the account to other assets whenever the paycheck hits, but why should it be your fault that the employer is a retard? But Citi is fucked if they accidentally repay $900m to Revlon creditors?
The onus should probably be on the big complicated institution with a payroll system and a team of people to manage this administrative junk.
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