Husband having dilemna with being overpaid.

My husband has been offered overtime work now(Praise God).
However his employer(person that does his payroll) has been making big errors with his payment and on, three,occasions now has overpaid my husband.

My husband brought it to his attention and told him on the first occasion that he was over-paid. His employer had put in the wrong hours.
The payroll person told my husband to give the money back to him in cash.
My husband didn't question it and gave him the money back in cash.
I asked my husband what he did with the money and he said the payroll person put it back into "petty cash" and then bought pizzas for the workers one day.

It happened again the following pay and my husband was overpaid and gave him cash again.
There was NO receipt or anything.
My husband asked, "Can't you just take the money out of my pay/account
and the payroll person said they couldn't.

My husband has become quite frustrated and stipulated to the payroll person NO to make anymore mistakes.

It's just happened again and the mistake is quite bad.
My husband gave the payrolll person the extra cash that he was overpaid.

We wrote a note saying that he has made these incorrect payments and my husband asked if he could sign it as evidence that he has received cash from my husband.
He has refused to sign it saying that he dosn't want to get into trouble.

I am not sure if he is correcting the tax - now my husband's group certificate will be incorrect and he will have to pay tax on money that he hasn't officially earnt.

MY husband dosn't want this person to get dismissed(apparently his wife has cancer)
I can understand this but it is affecting us both.
It happened once before - about a year ago and my husband was paid twice in one week and had to give it back in cash.
This was just a once -off - now it's happening again.

I want to give him the benefit of the doubt and trust him(that he may be just prone to making lots of mistakes) but then, what if he is being dishonest and keeping the money?

I don't want my husband to get into trouble too.
My husband treads carefully at work because he dosn't want to get others into trouble and lose his job.
My husband wants me to speak to him about it - to see if he will listen to me and sign the paper.


I'm so upset about all ofthis.
It's troubling me.
any suggestions besides prayer?

I am committing it to the Lord in prayer...
I want to do what is right.
thanks for reading..

That is quite a dilemma. I'm not a lawyer but it definitely sounds like a legal issue and your husband could be putting himself at risk. I don't know the employer or the work environment but I would definitely document the 3 incidents. If possible, obtain a copy of your bank statement that shows where you withdrew the cash and keep your paystub and document the overage. When this happens again, your husband should refuse giving the payroll person cash. The amount should simply be deducted from his next paycheck. It sounds like a pretty clear case of theft, especially if it happened 3 times. Not a bad gig.... overpay a few employees a hundred here and fifty bucks there. Have them give you cash to make up for it and before you know it your making (stealing) 3,4 maybe $500 extra a month in cash! I'm always one to give a person the benefit of the doubt, but this seems highly suspicious and you need to be sure and cyb (cover your bum).

thanks very much - I've made documentation but thanks for the advice about the withdrawal of cash as well (keeping stubs)...and statements...

I've thought about this man being dishonest as well.
I've prayed about it and asked God to deal with this man if he is being dishonest and to help us in this situation.

Many thanks, God bless you!

unless he is redoing the payroll the taxes and withholding will still be based upon the higher income received AND.... you will be taxed based upon the extra income you returned....

I know, we have thought about this- and this is completely out of our control...
My husband says he isn't really willing to listen but says it won't happen again.
My husband said if he does this again, he is going to take the matter further and tell someone higher up.

I'm just trusting in God for the best thing to do but value your advice - it's much appreciated.. Godly wisdom is good! Thanks

Originally Posted by grace222

I know, we have thought about this- and this is completely out of our control...
My husband says he isn't really willing to listen but says it won't happen again.
My husband said if he does this again, he is going to take the matter further and tell someone higher up.

I'm just trusting in God for the best thing to do but value your advice - it's much appreciated.. Godly wisdom is good! Thanks

if his check is wrong he needs to have a new check issued with proper payroll deductions and if they have an accounting department or payroll he should go to that part of the company. I would never give cash back to an employer instead I would have them adjust the difference on the next payroll check if I had already cashed it. If they overpaid 5 hours I would have them deduct 5 hours from the next check.

This is clearly a racket. A company should never demand cash from an employee. It is payroll's responsibility to write up the pay correctly. If there is an error, payroll can send it into the next pay period.

This person is benefiting personally from the error, whether their wife has cancer or not.

Since it is cash, it can't be traced. Your husband could demand paying back with a check. But he could also stand his ground and say that he will either keep the money, or they will roll it into the next pay period. Then he should expect payment for the extra hours he spends correcting their errors.

He needs to talk with someone else in the company about this -- it sounds like embezzlement.

My, I don't know what to say. That's alot of incompetence on the payroll part.