Got bent over by my job...

[Maiden89]

I've fucking had it with my job. About 4 months ago I transferred to a different department and they didn't de-registar my ID and gave it to someone else. In the meantime I got paid for some other guys hours that overlapped on my schedule for two weeks (thats what they told me). A month later they said they screwed up and told me to keep the extra $300 I made during that period and said they would fix this issue and adjust the hours. I acknowledged the time adjustments and started getting paid what I normally would get (or so I thought).

...3 months later

Today I picked up my check and it's a measly $26.31! I asked WTF was going on and they told me I agreed to the time adjustments. I told them I did for the 2 weeks they said they screwed up. They said I was overpaid for the whole 4 months and their taking it back through "Time Adjustments" AKA taking it from my check.

I said "You guys told me you fixed this 3 months ago!" She said, "I'm sorry we didn't explain how Time Adjustments worked. I"m surprised we didn't take your whole check; we left a little for living expenses. Your next check is going to be about the same. You can work overtime on your days off to make up for it if you like."

Are you fucking serious! I'm supposed to live off about $50 for the next month, until I pay them back for their mistake that they said they fixed 3 months ago?! I'm so fucking pissed!

[Nightbat]

Rule #1: get EVERYTHING in writing (which I guess you didn't)

seems like you need a lawyer

[Maiden89]

I went through the hours with a supervisor and it does show that I was overpaid, but it was spread out over 4 months, so I didn't really notice, except for that one check that was an extra $300. They said they fixed it and adjusted the hours in the computer and now they said they screwed up the whole time I've been in the new department. They also sent me home early yesterday because they mismatched my user account in their computer database and it wouldn't log me in, instead of having me do something else while they fixed it.

The fact is, I can't spend another 2 weeks working just to make another $30 or so. I can't really fight them with a lawyer since it does show that I'm overpaid (even though some dipshit in the payroll department had 4 months to fix it). I'm just going to walk in today, hand in my badge and quit. From what I'm hearing, the same thing happened to most of the people I've transferred with. I now know why almost all of them quit. They must have been busy screwing them out of their money and now it's my turn.

[Nightbat]

Well, if more became victim of poor administration, get together and rip your boss a new one

[straycat]

They admit they screwed up and then you have to pay for their mistake?
I would get all the employees that went thru this and get a lawyer.
Tip 1: never sign anything. If they ask you too its a red flag to me that they are getting ready to screw you over.
I got written up several times and each time they wanted me to sign the warning letter and I wouldn't do it.
Payroll dept messes up they need to be the ones that get the docked pay not you thats just my opinion.

[Maiden89]

I never acknowledged my communications on my computer, that's basically an electronic signature. They bitched about it all the time. I finally looked through the time adjustment communications and acknowledged that they screwed up. They explained that there was two weeks they screwed up, the money was mine and I just had to acknowledge the Time adjustments for the weeks they screwed up. I'm so fucking stupid!

The problem is that it's a huge corporation. Luckily, their corporate headquarters is about an hour away from me, but I don't see much coming from driving up there and bitching at them. I can't prove that I only agreed to Time Adjustments for the two weeks of overpaid time. Even If I got a lawyer it shows how many hours I was overpaid and I agreed to Time Adjustments, even though I didn't know that it was for the whole time.

Most of the people I transferred with went there own way, so there's really no way of getting in touch with them.

I might still look into getting a lawyer though. I really feel like quitting now though, I can't bare another day of work, but I don't know if that would screw things up.

[shreddermon]

If they overpaid you for four months, the reasonable thing to do would have been to recapture the overage over the next four months. Not all at once.

An amateur move like that would make me wonder if this might be a company having trouble meeting payroll. It's either big incompetence in payroll, or they might be playing games with their finances to stay afloat.

[pianoguyy]

A lawyer isn't really going to do any good.
In the long run, its not a money issue because it will all equal out in the end. Its a time issue. You need money right now and your next check will be just as short. The legal process doesn't fix 'now'. By the time your case gets heard, this issue is over.

If its that big of a company, you probably have a union rep to talk to? or an hr department?
they should be able to get the more immediate cash need fixed.

[Nightbat]

I can't prove that I only agreed to Time Adjustments for the two weeks of overpaid time. Even If I got a lawyer it shows how many hours I was overpaid and I agreed to Time Adjustments

If I'm correct you already have a specification showing the reimbursement of those 'accidental' 2 weeks
You can still write and ask for a spread payment since they again overpaid you, and instead of 2 weeks, reimbursed 3 whole months of their fuckup
i.e: not paying attention to their work AGAIN

also write a letter to their overseeing manager that his employees are idiots and he's responsible for that -> forward it to his overseer as well

Remember that a company still has to act decently towards its employees when it comes to reimbursing pay (for reasons apart from disciplinary measures)
You are NOT to be treated as if you have been guilty of a crime

[straycat]

Good advice Nightbat. Rousting the chain of command may get good results.
I had disability insurance issues with the company I work for.They cancelled my disability payments because they didn't want to pay me basically the whole term of the coverage.That left me in a very hard spot and fixing to lose everything I had worked for for 25 years.
I went up the chain of command at the disability ins company getting nowhere so I called the corporate office of the company I work for and got nowhere with HR.
So I got a wild hair one day and decided to call corporate HQ again.
The secretary that answered asked who I wished to speak to so I gave her the CEO's name and she said hold on I will connect you. I thought WTF?
I introduced myself and told him the distribution Center I worked for and he listened to what I had to say.
He said sir I am glad you brought that to my attention I will not have any employee treated that way by our contractor that handles our disability claims.
He said I will have an answer for you by 1:00 pm tomorrow and trust me you WILL have an answer.
I got a call from my boss at 11:30 am and he put me on conference call with the disability ins companies director.
After about 30 min of questions the disability ins director said we seem to have made a huge mistake in processing your claim sir and I apologize for that.
I was reinstated and given back pay to catch me back up.
That afternoon The CEO of my company called me back and asked how things went. I told him we got it worked out and I said thank you for your help in the matter.
He told me no thank you for letting me know about it.
What I didn't know was he jumped the disability ins companies CEO and director's ass face to face that morning.He jumped on a plane and flew 6 hours to personally handle it.Now that is a CEO that cares about his employees.
Don't give up or quit over it that will only hurt you in the end and they probably are trying to get you to quit to be honest so they can do that to the next guy

[etepbbb]

Its already been said, but, you still work there. I'd think they'd be inclined to work with a current employee. I mean, just ask them to spread out the repayment. I'm sure they'll understand.

[Nightbat]

Exactly Straycat
Sometimes you gotta kick up a little shitstorm to get out of the Set-protocol-papermill

I'd start my letter with:
"Question: Is it company policy to leave their employees without food or rent money because one of their depts. fucked up (TWICE!)"

then explain the situation and probably ending on the note that having no food for the rest of the month, difficulties travelling to the workplace (cars or public transport don't run on "sorry")
and a lot of stress dealing with the debtcollectors will probably have a negative influence on my performance for quite a while,
which better not show on my next evaluationreport, since this is the responsibility of a badly run financial department,
who apparently can't even prevent previous mistakes from happening again

[AdRock]

Definitely talk to the payroll Dept. boss. If nothing happens then leave footprints on peoples heads as you work your way up the chain. Eventually you'll work your way up to someone that will be pissed that they're even having to hear about the issue.

[Maiden89]

On Monday I'm going to definitely talk to someone; can't get hold of HR or corporate since they don't seem to work on weekends. Ever since I transferred departments, things went to hell. Most of the time I can barely muster the motivation to walk into work or finish my shift, do to everything being half assed. Servers crashing, systems glitching, username database errors, etc… I'm surprised a simple thing like pen & paper work at this place. My attendance is shitty; I've been calling off or showing up late. The funny thing is I didn't miss one day and I was only late once at my last department and I worked 10 hour days and overtime on christmas eve and new years.

What sucks is that I was getting ready to quit anyway; I've been busy with my resume. Good thing I didn't just rely on this half assed job. If it wasn't for the extra couple hundred bucks I've been making on Ebay, I would be screwed.