You were overpaid. What you should know! (Episode 35)

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_02]: I have a friend of mine that he punches in and out, but he also tracks his hours separately

[00:00:04] [SPEAKER_02]: to make sure that his check is right, which is really good. It's a little bit of extra

[00:00:09] [SPEAKER_02]: work, but you know it's in your best interest that you do that. And then what does it say?

[00:00:14] [SPEAKER_02]: Communicate with employers. Welcome back folks. We had a nice round number Episode

[00:00:20] [SPEAKER_02]: 35. Its About Your Paycheck and we're starting to dig into some really important topics

[00:00:26] [SPEAKER_02]: here. Not that the past ones were important, but any who before we get into it. How you

[00:00:30] [SPEAKER_02]: doing sir? I'm good man. It's another day of a dollar. Another episode. Another episode.

[00:00:39] [SPEAKER_02]: Yes sir. This one's good. It's overpayments right? What do you do if you get overpaid?

[00:00:44] [SPEAKER_02]: Right? People always joke around oh I'm gonna keep that money and blah blah blah blah

[00:00:47] [SPEAKER_02]: and we can speculate about that. But it is a good topic. We're gonna give you

[00:00:52] [SPEAKER_02]: some really, you know, things to keep in mind as an employee. If you get overpaid,

[00:00:56] [SPEAKER_02]: what to expect from your employer? What type of legalities might be your protection for

[00:01:01] [SPEAKER_02]: you and your state, right? And then but before that you have a very interesting article.

[00:01:09] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah I wanted to do something different, you know like maybe do something a little

[00:01:14] [SPEAKER_01]: funny, a little, you know trendy. Yeah. You know I mean before we get into it man. So

[00:01:20] [SPEAKER_01]: have you been watching the Olympics or anything? Because you know that's going on.

[00:01:23] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah I'm trying to catch it every time I'm on, you know what the thing is is I'm

[00:01:28] [SPEAKER_02]: we're so not used to watching live TV anymore. Yeah. You know what I mean? So as

[00:01:33] [SPEAKER_02]: we go straight to the app, you know and then so I gotta be like a little

[00:01:37] [SPEAKER_02]: intentional about looking at TV. Good thing like I'll try to look for whatever

[00:01:40] [SPEAKER_02]: sports first before I go, you know especially over the weekends playing.

[00:01:44] [SPEAKER_02]: So that's how I caught some of it. I caught like a swimming, the men's

[00:01:48] [SPEAKER_02]: swimming a little bit, a little bit of men's beach volleyball. Okay okay. But

[00:01:55] [SPEAKER_02]: yeah what about you? You've been watching it? Yeah I've been checking it out here

[00:01:57] [SPEAKER_01]: there. You know me I like the basketball, the track and field. Some of the

[00:02:01] [SPEAKER_01]: swimming is cool and stuff like that. So you only want to see certain events?

[00:02:05] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah I only want to see certain events like the rowing. I love to see the

[00:02:08] [SPEAKER_01]: rowing like something that like has a lot of thrill to it because some of

[00:02:12] [SPEAKER_01]: those stuff are just like for me. For me you know. So then they have some new

[00:02:19] [SPEAKER_01]: sports I've never seen at the Olympics. I think they incorporated a lot of

[00:02:23] [SPEAKER_01]: different things. So this is one thing I've never seen it before but do you

[00:02:27] [SPEAKER_01]: remember that game that we used to play with? It was almost like tennis but

[00:02:33] [SPEAKER_01]: they had a little ball. Batman. Is that it? Yeah with the ball it looks

[00:02:38] [SPEAKER_02]: like it has a net on it. Yeah I've never seen that. You know what I'm saying?

[00:02:42] [SPEAKER_02]: In the Olympics yeah I mean I don't like it, I don't remember but I know I do

[00:02:46] [SPEAKER_02]: know that they they continue to add new sports right.

[00:02:52] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah this good stuff you know it's always cool to you know see what

[00:02:55] [SPEAKER_02]: see what you know the world is. It's an interesting event you know it's

[00:03:01] [SPEAKER_01]: an interesting thing. A lot of people were tripping out for the

[00:03:04] [SPEAKER_01]: opening ceremony. Did you hear that in the news?

[00:03:07] [SPEAKER_01]: Why could a Snoop Dogg? No not because of all the different like they were showing

[00:03:13] [SPEAKER_01]: like men in dresses and a lot of different things that they were showing on

[00:03:18] [SPEAKER_01]: yeah and so a lot of Christian folks were like upset about it because no one

[00:03:22] [SPEAKER_01]: has blasted me and stuff. So well we don't we don't got to

[00:03:27] [SPEAKER_02]: speak on it but like I just yeah no I didn't I didn't I

[00:03:32] [SPEAKER_02]: didn't catch that I didn't catch the

[00:03:35] [SPEAKER_02]: the opening ceremony. I should have been always go back to it but yeah no

[00:03:39] [SPEAKER_02]: all I I'm just catching it the the the highlights from the news you know.

[00:03:44] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah I gotcha, I gotcha. All right man I'll get into it man I have an article

[00:03:48] [SPEAKER_01]: from Buzzfeed.com Angelica Martinez has some employee horror stories so I'm

[00:03:55] [SPEAKER_01]: going to go through a few and we'll talk through it and

[00:03:58] [SPEAKER_01]: have some key takeaways and we'll get into our main show.

[00:04:02] [SPEAKER_01]: So there's 10 different things so actually there was 20 but I only took 10.

[00:04:06] [SPEAKER_01]: Okay so check this article out it'll be in the show notes

[00:04:10] [SPEAKER_01]: you can see some of these horror stories so you know I'll do one through

[00:04:14] [SPEAKER_01]: five and you finish it out? Sure. All right so number one was there was an

[00:04:20] [SPEAKER_01]: influencer mistake an influencer accidentally used non-edible

[00:04:25] [SPEAKER_01]: tie dye ink from a campaign kit to dye

[00:04:29] [SPEAKER_01]: her yogurt bowl resulting in potentially hazardous video that led to a

[00:04:35] [SPEAKER_01]: recall of the product. Oh wow so that's crazy right?

[00:04:40] [SPEAKER_01]: There was a number two is an HR blind spot an HR manager at a non-profit

[00:04:44] [SPEAKER_01]: for the legally blind has to handle a fight between

[00:04:47] [SPEAKER_01]: a partially sighted and totally blind employee

[00:04:51] [SPEAKER_01]: with what this is unable to provide details due to their blindness.

[00:04:55] [SPEAKER_02]: Wait a second hold on wait so wait did you say what this is about

[00:04:58] [SPEAKER_02]: humorous workplace incidents? Yeah yeah. You mentioned the name okay I'm sorry I didn't.

[00:05:04] [SPEAKER_02]: Okay so say what an HR blind so HR manager or not?

[00:05:10] [SPEAKER_02]: Oh at a non-profit for the legally blind.

[00:05:14] [SPEAKER_01]: So to figure out the fight so they're like nobody can say what happened we just

[00:05:18] [SPEAKER_02]: literally started it so yeah. And that's probably not true because

[00:05:23] [SPEAKER_02]: they heard they could they could hear. But hey we don't know who's through the

[00:05:27] [SPEAKER_01]: first punch. So number three finger finger gun

[00:05:32] [SPEAKER_01]: robbery a gas station was repeatedly robbed for a month by a

[00:05:35] [SPEAKER_01]: perpetrator using only finger guns which were not taken

[00:05:39] [SPEAKER_01]: seriously but had to be reported as real robberies.

[00:05:43] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah there was uh was he actually stealing something?

[00:05:47] [SPEAKER_01]: Probably yeah. Oh my goodness that's hilarious. Number four a fridge food

[00:05:54] [SPEAKER_01]: fight a new employee was yelled at on the first day for leaving food in the

[00:05:59] [SPEAKER_01]: shared fridge despite not having unpacked or

[00:06:03] [SPEAKER_01]: settled in yet. So somebody just got on this person

[00:06:06] [SPEAKER_01]: like oh why you putting your food in there like just tripping out on this new person?

[00:06:09] [SPEAKER_01]: Like dang I just I just started. And then number five food theft

[00:06:15] [SPEAKER_01]: theft revenge an employee who had their food stolen repeatedly

[00:06:19] [SPEAKER_01]: put laxatives in their lunch leading to a dramatic confrontation with the thief

[00:06:24] [SPEAKER_01]: who was unaware of the food's ownership. Oh my god. I'm waiting to see who's

[00:06:31] [SPEAKER_01]: going to be going to the bathroom a lot and that's all I know who took the food.

[00:06:36] [SPEAKER_02]: Larius why would you even and that's I mean look I get people

[00:06:39] [SPEAKER_02]: yeah I wouldn't I wouldn't take nobody's food from the fridge that's

[00:06:43] [SPEAKER_02]: bro that's a long time. I hardly want to eat other other people's food period

[00:06:48] [SPEAKER_02]: right like potlucks and things like that that's a that's right and it's crazy

[00:06:53] [SPEAKER_02]: because it's like ever since I you know at any time I'm part of the HR

[00:06:57] [SPEAKER_02]: oh let's do a potluck and I'm like yeah that's not

[00:07:02] [SPEAKER_01]: everybody doing some store-bought stuff is that what they're bringing?

[00:07:06] [SPEAKER_02]: Exactly and then that's not guaranteed so it's nah just get pizza about that.

[00:07:12] [SPEAKER_02]: Yep. Oh okay so the next one is a drive-thru incident an employee at a drive-through had

[00:07:17] [SPEAKER_02]: a drink thrown at them through the window which was dangerous due to their position amidst other

[00:07:24] [SPEAKER_02]: beverages oh my gosh yeah that's crazy all right number seven is justice store incident men

[00:07:36] [SPEAKER_02]: sneaked into a children's clothing store to smoke a joint which was particularly foolish given the

[00:07:42] [SPEAKER_02]: store's demographic and layout. What in the heck yeah that that justice store in the mall yeah

[00:07:49] [SPEAKER_02]: this is ridiculous okay I'm gonna call number eight Phantom Pooper

[00:07:57] [SPEAKER_02]: yeah a contractor's workers found human feces and oh god a contractor's workers found human feces

[00:08:06] [SPEAKER_02]: in unexpected places on job sites only to discover later that the contractor himself was responsible

[00:08:13] [SPEAKER_02]: what is wrong with people oh gosh all right number nine it's on the long yuck the yuck category

[00:08:25] [SPEAKER_02]: urinal pubes at a call center an employee had to address the disturbing issue of public

[00:08:31] [SPEAKER_02]: of pubic hair deliberately placed on urinals flat top eventually resolving it by confronting

[00:08:37] [SPEAKER_02]: the staff collectively. What is wrong with people? The last one banana peel stunt a co-worker tried

[00:08:48] [SPEAKER_02]: to demonstrate that slipping on a banana peel wouldn't cause harm but ended up injuring itself

[00:08:54] [SPEAKER_02]: which the reporter deems too trivial to formally document oh my gosh it's not real that doesn't

[00:09:03] [SPEAKER_01]: happen in the cartoons right yeah it happens bro come on come on bro oh my goodness because

[00:09:12] [SPEAKER_01]: a banana peel is slippery man that that was some weird stuff man look I'm sure that each of you

[00:09:18] [SPEAKER_01]: that's listening to this podcast you know have your own stories we would like to hear some as long

[00:09:23] [SPEAKER_02]: as they're not too creepy or too gross yeah just keep in mind we want you know keep it rated Pg I

[00:09:31] [SPEAKER_01]: guess 13 at the moment at the worst 13 you know yeah look these things happen at work how you

[00:09:39] [SPEAKER_01]: navigate those you know say you you've experienced some of this stuff if you're in a position to

[00:09:45] [SPEAKER_01]: report those or help out with those I say report them because anybody that steals anybody lunch

[00:09:52] [SPEAKER_01]: anybody that's going you have a phantom pooper whatever I mean yeah and that sounds crazy

[00:09:59] [SPEAKER_02]: because if he was doing it yeah I'd play unexpected places on job sites yeah so that's ridiculous

[00:10:04] [SPEAKER_01]: what are you doing all right nah you that mad at the you that mad at the company you don't need to

[00:10:09] [SPEAKER_01]: work there you're gonna be doing real all right man but we have a message from our sponsor you know

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[00:11:20] [SPEAKER_01]: vacationing and let's go let's go all right man so the topic we're talking about today is

[00:11:29] [SPEAKER_01]: potentially being overpaid and what you should know as the employee that has been overpaid

[00:11:35] [SPEAKER_01]: yes you know you want to know your rights if you have any especially depending on your state

[00:11:41] [SPEAKER_01]: or your company there may your company may have a policy on it I know a lot of companies may not

[00:11:47] [SPEAKER_01]: have them so like I've never seen a company have an overpayment policy I don't know if you

[00:11:52] [SPEAKER_02]: have Brian but no you know it's one of those things that you know the company has to be

[00:11:58] [SPEAKER_02]: proactive about and you know what I learned in HR is that some companies don't put things

[00:12:03] [SPEAKER_02]: into play you know how to HR leader that told me look it can be a practice without being a policy

[00:12:10] [SPEAKER_02]: once we make it a policy then we are held to this policy all right so you know not everything has

[00:12:18] [SPEAKER_02]: to be written down and sometimes in an employer's case they do that to protect themselves look

[00:12:24] [SPEAKER_02]: we're gonna follow the rules of the law because there's enough law governing overpayment issues

[00:12:29] [SPEAKER_02]: that they don't have to now then take a write a policy down they could just follow a practice

[00:12:35] [SPEAKER_02]: and the government's policy or the Fed or the state policy behind it right so no I haven't I don't

[00:12:42] [SPEAKER_02]: think I've ever come across company that does it what what I have noticed and I'm sure you've

[00:12:47] [SPEAKER_02]: noticed this too when you do research colleges are quick to write everything down like if you

[00:12:52] [SPEAKER_02]: research something right our college or random university somewhere will have a policy for

[00:12:58] [SPEAKER_02]: something and you're like what's this and so they're very diligent about that but no I don't

[00:13:03] [SPEAKER_02]: I don't think I have I've never written one but we've always followed right the whatever the governing

[00:13:10] [SPEAKER_01]: law is for that for that state yeah okay okay yeah so look we're gonna go through some some things

[00:13:18] [SPEAKER_01]: here and hopefully it helps you but also you know before we start you want to do your research

[00:13:24] [SPEAKER_01]: right you want to do your research and see what rights you may have so number one we have a few

[00:13:30] [SPEAKER_01]: different topics I think we have four different things we're going to discuss and then some other

[00:13:34] [SPEAKER_01]: things we're going to touch on as well so number one their employer may have some rights to recoup

[00:13:43] [SPEAKER_01]: those overpayments so this so you have to understand that as an employee that employers

[00:13:50] [SPEAKER_01]: generally have the right to recover any overpaid wages that includes bonuses or anything from employees

[00:13:57] [SPEAKER_01]: so this is applicable in cases of accidental overpayments by payroll yep so you have to understand

[00:14:04] [SPEAKER_01]: that that there's things out there that under federal law which is the second point here

[00:14:10] [SPEAKER_01]: under the Fair Labor Standard Act or FLSA employers can deduct overpaid amounts from an employee's

[00:14:17] [SPEAKER_01]: future wages even if this if this deduction brings the employees pay below minimum wage for that pay

[00:14:24] [SPEAKER_02]: period I don't necessarily agree with that one though I don't know how much yeah only because

[00:14:30] [SPEAKER_02]: if the state dictates something different then you go by what is more beneficial for the employee

[00:14:36] [SPEAKER_01]: so yeah there's not a lot of but yeah but that that's just the federal law look yeah that's

[00:14:47] [SPEAKER_01]: employees in this situation so it's a right there off top it's yes it's it's a great call out for

[00:14:54] [SPEAKER_02]: employees because you should always understand that as an employee that the federal government has

[00:15:02] [SPEAKER_02]: a set of laws or nothing speaking to the subject and then the state will have a different set of

[00:15:09] [SPEAKER_02]: laws and then the third one yeah yes as an employee you should always research both because

[00:15:16] [SPEAKER_02]: it's going to be whatever is more beneficial to you as the employee, that's what's going to be

[00:15:20] [SPEAKER_02]: the applicable law. Right? And a perfect example of that is minimum wage. Minimum wage at the

[00:15:27] [SPEAKER_02]: federal level $7. But if you're in a state where it's $15, right, it's what's most more

[00:15:33] [SPEAKER_02]: beneficial to you. So yeah. All right. You want to, that's a perfect segue. You want to just

[00:15:39] [SPEAKER_01]: keep that momentum and do number three or four. Yeah, sure. So some of the state laws here

[00:15:44] [SPEAKER_02]: in Washington, employers do not need to notify employees about wage garnishments for overpayments

[00:15:51] [SPEAKER_02]: if discovered within 90 days. Well, see, yeah, that's not cool because then you can get a random

[00:15:57] [SPEAKER_02]: deduction from your check and but if you know you got overpaid and you live in the state of Washington,

[00:16:05] [SPEAKER_02]: go ahead and be proactive and schedule it. You don't want to get caught on that day and,

[00:16:09] [SPEAKER_02]: you know, you count on money and it don't come. In Indiana, employers can recoup overpaid wages

[00:16:15] [SPEAKER_02]: without prior authorization but must provide at least two week notice before making the deductions.

[00:16:22] [SPEAKER_02]: Okay. So in Indiana doesn't need your permission, but they do need to tell you at least two weeks

[00:16:26] [SPEAKER_02]: before California offers strong protections. Employers must obtain written agreement. That's

[00:16:38] [SPEAKER_02]: a good way to recoup overpaid wages even if the court approves wage deductions, the employee wages

[00:16:42] [SPEAKER_02]: cannot fall below the minimum wage. Ding, ding, ding. Right? So again, be aware of what your

[00:16:49] [SPEAKER_02]: state says because the federal government is, what is it, minimal protection? That's a good

[00:16:55] [SPEAKER_02]: way to put it. And then if your payroll department is really good, they will default to

[00:17:01] [SPEAKER_02]: getting everybody's written understanding of a deduction coming. Right? And that's the way

[00:17:07] [SPEAKER_02]: I do it when we build it out on a practice or policy level, always enforce, encourage that

[00:17:14] [SPEAKER_02]: some document is signed that the employee has acknowledged the overpayment and then a repayment

[00:17:20] [SPEAKER_02]: plan is agreed upon. Number four is employee actions. I guess what we should do as employees

[00:17:27] [SPEAKER_02]: review your pay stubs regularly, right? Quickly identify any errors, especially if you're

[00:17:33] [SPEAKER_02]: hourly, right? Your hours fluctuate. If you're tracking, you should be tracking your time.

[00:17:38] [SPEAKER_02]: You know, yes, you punch in and out, but you should also have a kind of

[00:17:43] [SPEAKER_02]: a general feeling of, okay, what kind of hours I've tracked that week. I have a friend of mine

[00:17:49] [SPEAKER_02]: that he punches in and out, but he also tracks his hours separately to make sure that his check

[00:17:55] [SPEAKER_02]: is right, which is really good. It's a little bit of extra work, but it's in your best interest

[00:18:01] [SPEAKER_02]: that you do that. And then what does it say? Communicate with employers if an overpayment

[00:18:06] [SPEAKER_02]: is noticed, discuss it with HR or payroll to rectify the issue amicably. Now, that I've never,

[00:18:14] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm not going to say that maybe once or twice in my 20 plus years and thousands of employees paid

[00:18:22] [SPEAKER_02]: that an employee came to us and said, hey, I was overpaid.

[00:18:27] [SPEAKER_01]: It's very rare, right? It's very rare because some employees do it because some employees are

[00:18:33] [SPEAKER_01]: diligent about the first thing you talked about, which is reviewing their paystubs regularly. Hey,

[00:18:38] [SPEAKER_01]: I normally get paid this and typically for me, the people who, because salary folks can be

[00:18:45] [SPEAKER_01]: overpaid sometimes as well. Sure. Mistakes happen, yeah.

[00:18:49] [SPEAKER_01]: And those are typically the people that come in and tell us like, hey,

[00:18:52] [SPEAKER_01]: I didn't get, I got my normal, the normal amount that I normally get.

[00:18:57] [SPEAKER_01]: I didn't get that this time. My amount was like a thousand dollars or a couple of hundred dollars

[00:19:03] [SPEAKER_01]: more on this, on this last check. Can you figure out why? You know what I'm saying? So in my

[00:19:07] [SPEAKER_01]: experience, most of those people who have come to us have been salary folks instead of the

[00:19:13] [SPEAKER_01]: hourly because some folks, some hourly, screaming, needing against hourly folk. Well, no, no,

[00:19:18] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm just saying in my experience, it has been salary folks because they're used to getting that

[00:19:24] [SPEAKER_01]: certain deposit amount. And so if it's different and you, they may have an app now these days,

[00:19:31] [SPEAKER_01]: you get a notice from your app, a notification from your app. Hey, your deposit has gone in for

[00:19:35] [SPEAKER_01]: this amount. And then you notice that, oh wow, it's like crazy high. You're not expecting

[00:19:40] [SPEAKER_01]: a exception payment or anything like that or any retro. Yeah. You might want to call it.

[00:19:45] [SPEAKER_01]: Might be easier for, that might be something that prompts you to reach out to your HR payroll

[00:19:51] [SPEAKER_01]: department. That's just my experience. Other people out there might have different experiences.

[00:19:55] [SPEAKER_02]: No, you're right. Well, yeah, no, I would say, I would, I think I would, how can I say,

[00:20:02] [SPEAKER_02]: qualify my statement with, I think it's only been high earners, right? Okay. Sorry. Folks

[00:20:08] [SPEAKER_02]: that are kind of, you know, doesn't hurt them either way. And then they don't lose anything

[00:20:12] [SPEAKER_02]: by being honest. Whereas, you know, hourly focus, like we say man, 80% of America lives paycheck to

[00:20:19] [SPEAKER_02]: paycheck. So, you know, they're not gonna, they're not gonna, would you say some, one of you employees

[00:20:27] [SPEAKER_02]: like overpaid was like, Oh, it was God, won't he do it? Yeah. They took it as a bus. And I needed

[00:20:33] [SPEAKER_01]: the money. I was paying. I didn't know what it, no. And they were like, all right. I mean,

[00:20:38] [SPEAKER_02]: but look, at the end of the day, right? And perfect segue again, understand your state specific laws,

[00:20:44] [SPEAKER_02]: be aware of your state regulations regarding wage reductions and repayment procedures because some

[00:20:49] [SPEAKER_02]: states were again, we only just mentioned a couple that every state has its own criteria of

[00:20:55] [SPEAKER_02]: how they deal with the overpayment, the deduction from your pay, the recouping of it all.

[00:21:01] [SPEAKER_02]: Do they, do they have required notice? Do they require written permission from the employee?

[00:21:06] [SPEAKER_02]: So think about it, if you're in a state that doesn't require any of that,

[00:21:09] [SPEAKER_02]: you could just get deducted on your next check and it may hurt, right? So be careful. If you get

[00:21:15] [SPEAKER_02]: an overpayment, understand what may happen next by looking up that overpayment law in your state.

[00:21:22] [SPEAKER_02]: So then I, you know, I have a few things here that we have to be mindful of because

[00:21:25] [SPEAKER_02]: if you get overpaid, right? And let's say look as we approach the end of the year right now,

[00:21:31] [SPEAKER_02]: how most of the time when, you know, nine times out of 10 when my department,

[00:21:35] [SPEAKER_02]: how can I say approaches and notifies an employee, they immediately say,

[00:21:40] [SPEAKER_02]: well, I can't pay it back right now. I need a payment plan.

[00:21:45] [SPEAKER_01]: Why can't you pay it back? Because you just got the old thing.

[00:21:47] [SPEAKER_02]: You just got it. How it's already gone. But it's so anyway, you know, that's the funny parts

[00:21:52] [SPEAKER_02]: of it. But it's, at that point, you, you, we're going to make a payment plan, right?

[00:22:00] [SPEAKER_02]: But now as we approach the end of the year, what I always tell my team is, hey,

[00:22:04] [SPEAKER_02]: let's make sure that it's paid back within this year. Because it's two different payback amounts.

[00:22:11] [SPEAKER_02]: If you cross the year, now you have to pay the company back the gross amount of that payment.

[00:22:17] [SPEAKER_02]: So make it easy. If you got $1,000 overpaid, right? But you that the net of that is only going to be

[00:22:26] [SPEAKER_02]: $700. So if it's in the same year, you get to pay that $700 back. But as soon as you cross the year,

[00:22:33] [SPEAKER_02]: you have to pay the whole $1,000 back because now the company has to add it on as a wage

[00:22:39] [SPEAKER_02]: earning for you for the year that it happened in. If you didn't pay it back. So that's

[00:22:47] [SPEAKER_02]: right. What I urge folks and the teams to do is to make sure they pay it back within the same

[00:22:52] [SPEAKER_02]: year that it happens. Now, if it happens at the end of the year, then we're in a jam. Because

[00:22:58] [SPEAKER_02]: it's like, Hey, there's no way you're going to pay. Actually, there is time, right? So even if

[00:23:05] [SPEAKER_02]: it's a 1231 check, you would act, you would probably have about a week or two into the new year

[00:23:10] [SPEAKER_02]: to pay it back to not impact you, not put it on your W2, right? Yeah. And look at this note I just

[00:23:18] [SPEAKER_01]: added in here about when employers can recover. That's why Brian was with Brian. Oh, wow. There's

[00:23:26] [SPEAKER_01]: some states have time limits on when you can recover. So in Tennessee, if you're in Tennessee,

[00:23:32] [SPEAKER_01]: the employer only has 90 days or three months to try to recover that overpayment from you.

[00:23:38] [SPEAKER_01]: That's crazy versus, versus Alaska. That's two years and Colorado five years. Wow. So that's

[00:23:47] [SPEAKER_01]: so that's to your point like to your point. Something the states understand know yes, the

[00:23:54] [SPEAKER_01]: states can kind of dictate what your payroll department or company will have to do. Hey,

[00:24:00] [SPEAKER_01]: I got overpaid. You got overpaid five years ago. We know four years ago, you live in Boulder, Colorado.

[00:24:06] [SPEAKER_01]: Your employer has the right to take to recoup that those funds from you. Right? Now it doesn't

[00:24:11] [SPEAKER_02]: mean they actually will because some folks will be more generous companies will be more generous

[00:24:16] [SPEAKER_02]: than others. But so let me finish these last things here. Think also if you get overpaid,

[00:24:22] [SPEAKER_02]: you might have to get a W2C again, all depends on whether you cross the year in the

[00:24:28] [SPEAKER_02]: overpayment or not. Okay, is correction a correction? Thank you sir. Yes, a W2C is a

[00:24:33] [SPEAKER_02]: correction to your prior year W2. So if you get a W2 and then they didn't factor that or that you

[00:24:40] [SPEAKER_02]: fix it in the new year, they may have to reissue a W2C and then you got to file your taxes again.

[00:24:47] [SPEAKER_02]: So there's so much impact in there. And then there's another part too, if you get paid,

[00:24:52] [SPEAKER_02]: if you pay later in the year, meaning a later year rather if you get if the mistake happened in 24,

[00:24:58] [SPEAKER_02]: but you didn't pay it back to 25, you could have forfeit your FICA refund. So you could be forfeiting

[00:25:04] [SPEAKER_02]: part of your refunds. So there's all this, there's a few things that you really have to

[00:25:10] [SPEAKER_02]: be aware of, right? Because the bottom line is that you should that you need the math to

[00:25:15] [SPEAKER_02]: be done. You need to payroll department or HR departments to kind of show you where you

[00:25:20] [SPEAKER_02]: should have been this year with math. And you can do it too with your pay stub, you should be able

[00:25:24] [SPEAKER_02]: to tie back to your stubs if you have it and most things are digital now so you should be able to

[00:25:30] [SPEAKER_02]: compare your notes because it's all going to depend on that math. You want to see what

[00:25:34] [SPEAKER_02]: should have happened, what did happen and what the correction looks like, right? And then

[00:25:39] [SPEAKER_02]: understanding the impact of it all. So yeah, good stuff man. That's the stuff for overpayment.

[00:25:50] [SPEAKER_01]: So let's close it out with our safe talk really quick. Yeah. And you know, should the government

[00:25:56] [SPEAKER_01]: and our employers be more understanding with employees that are overpaid? I mean, yes, what?

[00:26:06] [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, in the Excel, my answer is yes, but when I mean understanding,

[00:26:20] [SPEAKER_01]: okay, there you go, qualify it. Is them being willing to work with the employees and repaying

[00:26:28] [SPEAKER_01]: that or getting those funds recouped, right? That's what I think of because the employer

[00:26:34] [SPEAKER_01]: has the right to recoup those funds as we talked about. Even if there's no matter what the

[00:26:42] [SPEAKER_01]: strategy is, like especially in California, if they have to get proper authorization,

[00:26:47] [SPEAKER_01]: they still have to go through that process. And if you give it to them, they have the right to

[00:26:55] [SPEAKER_01]: get those funds and other places they don't even need, like we read, they don't even need

[00:26:59] [SPEAKER_01]: your authorization. This is go ahead and take it from you or whatever. Yeah. And so

[00:27:04] [SPEAKER_01]: I think they could work with the employees a lot more and getting that back. So that's why

[00:27:12] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm looking from the viewpoint that I'm looking from in this case.

[00:27:18] [SPEAKER_02]: I think that should be more understanding. I mean,

[00:27:26] [SPEAKER_02]: I don't know what understanding means. It's not their money, right? If I overpay you,

[00:27:33] [SPEAKER_02]: you know, already my hands are tied because you have the money, right? And depending on what

[00:27:42] [SPEAKER_02]: state I'm in, I may be limited on my actions because guess what? Just because I need your

[00:27:47] [SPEAKER_02]: written permission doesn't mean I'm going to get it. If they do not get the written permission,

[00:27:52] [SPEAKER_02]: then they cannot take it back through your check, but they can depending on the amount,

[00:27:57] [SPEAKER_02]: they can take you to small claims court. Yes. Okay. Now this is not something that

[00:28:03] [SPEAKER_02]: do you really want to go down this path with your employer? You know what I mean?

[00:28:07] [SPEAKER_02]: Now don't get me wrong. If it's life changing money,

[00:28:12] [SPEAKER_02]: you pay me overpay me a million dollars.

[00:28:18] [SPEAKER_02]: Guess what? You are going to take me to court because I'm not paying this back.

[00:28:23] [SPEAKER_02]: We're going, I'm dragging this out. You don't change my life.

[00:28:26] [SPEAKER_01]: One, I quit. So let's start my business and then

[00:28:31] [SPEAKER_02]: I'll have the money to pay. And I'll pay it back, but you're really going to,

[00:28:36] [SPEAKER_02]: you're going to have to go after this. You're going to have to shame on you.

[00:28:39] [SPEAKER_02]: You know what I mean? Hey, I'm sorry. It's not stealing. You just gave me an interest-free loan.

[00:28:48] [SPEAKER_02]: But you do have to make a, all jokes aside, you have to make a decision as an employee.

[00:28:52] [SPEAKER_02]: How hard or what road you want to go down as you deal with the overpayments.

[00:28:57] [SPEAKER_02]: And then if you get an overpayment, check the laws and your state is not,

[00:29:02] [SPEAKER_02]: it doesn't matter that the federal government doesn't have a good, what is this say,

[00:29:06] [SPEAKER_02]: minimum protection. What it's, it's what's best for you as the employee.

[00:29:12] [SPEAKER_02]: And make sure you understand the state law that governs the overpayment.

[00:29:17] [SPEAKER_02]: And that is what your, your payroll department, our department is going to default to.

[00:29:23] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah. And that's it. You know, that's the choice today, man. Yeah, it was a good one.

[00:29:28] [SPEAKER_02]: Thanks for putting this together for us. A very good topic, very good call outs.

[00:29:34] [SPEAKER_02]: And until the next time folks, we love you. Peace.

[00:29:39] [SPEAKER_01]: Before we sign off, here are a couple of quick things.

[00:29:43] [SPEAKER_01]: Don't forget to follow. It's about payroll on LinkedIn and it's about your paycheck on

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[00:29:52] [SPEAKER_02]: And thank you for being a part of this journey with us until the next time.

[00:29:57] [SPEAKER_02]: Keep learning, keep growing. And most importantly, keep going.