Wifey Employment/HR issue... help plaese
Jonny_Paycheck
17,825 Posts
We've got a problem, and I figure the Strut is as good as anything available on the www.So my wife works for a small, high end shoe company. She's excited by the brand, is working with people she likes and respects, and took a pay cut from her big retail fashion gig to get with the company.Her employer just informed her today that, due to an accounting error, for the last six months they had been paying her $500 too much per month. Basically, they were supposed to split the health insurance yet her share had been paid (mistakenly) by the company this whole time.Here's the rub: in addition to swallowing the reduced pay going forward they are asking her to repay some $3,000+[/b] to the company. To make matters worse, this was taken up in the middle of a full office in the middle of the workday and later addressed in an email on which other employees were copied.To the money issue I cry "BULLSHIT". But what rights does she have? How is she supposed to come up with that money for them when it was THEIR accounting error? Not to mention, isn't insurance and pay scale business supposed to be private and confidential?HR/Legal heads, plaese to weigh in...
Comments
I doubt they can demand she front all that money at once AND maybe a threatening legal letter of some sort will resolve the matter all together, holler at your boy Fauxy.
My good friend is an HR manager. Let me ask what she thinks.
$1000 per month for health insurance? Is it just me or is that incredibly high?
But really, she didn't know how much was supposed to get taken out of her check? If you found out they didn't pay there part would you expect them to pay?
As far as the unprofessional way handled, she can go to HR (assuming there is one) but nothing will happen, maybe she will get an apology.
in my experience with these issues, she is to be expected to return the money, but if she has a good rapport with her managers she may be able to make arrangements that work out very much in her favor (given the circumstances). So instead of having to fork over 3K in the span of one month, perhaps she work it out getting deducted from her paycheck over the next 6 months or so.
In reality, this cost should be a drop in the bucket for the company, its just that accounting/payroll just figured this out.
As for putting her on blast in front of her fellow employees, definitely worth her to note that to a respected/trusted manager.
I assume that whe you say "her employer", you mean her "HR Dept". If the an HR Dept Rep was the one that did this all in front of the entire office...then that seems to be a pretty unprofessional HR Dept.
The error was made by the woman she reports into so there's not really a trusted/confidential person she can go to.
I think we both understand that if they say they want the money back, she has to pay it back (or step off)... as far as the cost to the company my feeling is that this might not be such a drop in the bucket... everyone's collecting on debts these days.
That blows. Work out a payment plan and write a letter saying how she doesn't appreciate being embarrassed in front of all her co-workers? I dunno..
my understanding is that if she was overpaid then she is not entitled to keep that money. as soon as she realized there was a mistake (or it was brought to her attention) she came under a duty to repay (this is related to the law on unjust enrichment and constructive trusts) whether or not that money had been spent or transformed into substitute assets (like raers).
from your description it sounds like an "honest muddle" but the company certainly handled it in an unprofessional and perhaps even demeaning manner.
since it is such a small company, there is no ombudsman, hr dept., or perhaps even company procedures to speak of, handling this internally could be difficult if not impossible.
i guess if she wants to keep the job her best bet is to work out a settlement (perhaps pay back 50%)over an extended period of time so that it doesn't mess your household finances up.
otherwise, i guess she quits (which means no unemployment insurance)and she tells them that she'll see them in small claims court if they decide to persist. the problem is, i am pretty sure the law is not on your side here so she could end up losing her job and having to pay back the entire amount plus court costs.
unfortunately, i think you guys are going to have to bite the bullet.
The bad side of small/ mid-size companies, often they don't feel that confidentiality is just as crucial as it is in a big firm, when in fact it may be even more critical. More is riding on it.
It sucks, but I agree with most folks here that the $$$ issue is a done deal, the best she could do is probably negotiate the amount some and the time to pay it back should also be somewhat flexible. My biggest issue is the way they handled it, which obviously really put her on the spot through no fault of her own. In my own experience working in smaller companies, my guess was that this was indeed intentional, to put her back up against the wall and not give her much breathing room when it came to negotiating THEIR screw-up. But then, I worked for total scumbags, so maybe I am being cynical.
Her best bet is to put on a fake smile and, like Odub's HR friend said, get to the bottom of the ACTUAL amount and see what they can do.
...and actually, $1000, while high, could or could not be bad. it all depends on what their copays are when they see a physican, if there is an out of pocket maximum for the year, price of meds, etc.
anyway.. that sucks jon. tell em i said hi!