Human Resource Blog

Overpay

	Compensation
Employee Payroll Action Form W-4 Employee Withholding Allowance Cert. Employee Payroll Status/Change Form Direct Deposit Form Total Compensation Summary

	HR Management
Confidential Employee Folder Confidential Employee Medical Folder Job File Worksheet Folder Daily EEO Applicant Flow Log Workplace Information Sheets Request to Inspect Personnel Files

I had an previous employee that put in her resignation effective June 13. She calculated her final pay on her last day, submitted it and we paid it. I recently received an email on hours that she claims are still owed totaling 28.5 hours over 6 days. However, the hours she listed were incorrect. In resesarching I found she was out sick two of the six days and that the hours she is claiming on the other days are incorrect as well. In addition, researching the employees payroll records, I discovered that I had overpaid her by 53 hours. In recalcuting her time, I would have owed her 15 hours, however, since I had already overpaid her by 53 hours, she actually owes me money. She had submitted to me her final time with her signature and the 53 hrs that she had already been paid from the previous pay period was listed on her sheet. I had not caught that until she had sent notices that she is owed back pay.

She recently contacted the Labor board and has claimed that we owe her back pay along with overtime. what rights do I have? Will I be subject to pay overtime if I have overpaid her?

This is a complex issue. First of all, let us say that it is, uhm, unwise for an employer to allow the employee to calculate her final pay check. The temptation to lie is just too great. It sounds like, overall, you need a better, more professional method of tracking employee hours and handling payroll.

The employee claims that she is owed 28.5 hours. You claim that she is owed 15 hours, but has been overpayed by 53 hours, meaning she has been overpaid by 38 hours total.

The employee is probably bluffing when she says she contacted the Labor Board. There is no Florida agency that collects past due wages for employees. She would have to file in small claims court or hire a lawyer to pursue this.

If, in fact, the employee has filed a complaint with the Wage and Hour Division of the US Department of Labor, they will only pursue the claim if she was paid less than the federal minimum wage for the hours worked, or has unpaid overtime. That does not appear to be the case.

You should assemble all the documentation that you have on this issue including evidence of her hours worked and keep it together in one file, in case you are called upon to offer proof. You should also send a certified letter to the former employee, detailing the hours she worked and what she was paid. That letter should show that she has been overpaid by 53 hours, which exceeds the 15 hours that you owe her.

(In some states you would be required to pay the 15 hours, anyway, because employers are not permitted to recover overpayments to workers. But Florida does not appear to be one of them.)

If you are contacted by a state or federal agency, you should cooperate with them. And, if this situation goes any further, you will probably want to hire an attorney. But there’s a good chance that once you send the letter to the employee, she will desist.

This comment does not constitute legal advice and should not be construed as such.

Most employers have workers sign a statement on the time card or time sheet that this is all the time they are entitled to. By the same token, many employers have workers sign a time sheet when they receive their check, verifying that they are being paid correctly. Implementing either one of these standard procedures would have prevented this problem. Looking in our crystal ball, we are going to guess that you are an overworked small business owner who has been trying to handle payroll — and everything else — himself. This might be a good time to hire someone for payroll, to buy a computer program that handles it, or to delegate it to a professional.