Ever had a paycheck that was SUBSTANTIALLY bigger....... by mistake?

[RedAngie]

I haven’t really checked an electronic payroll stub in many years, even when I got raises.

 

[bcla]

Once I noticed what I thought was a supplementary bonus payment via direct deposit. I thought that it was a correction because my original bonus seemed rather low. Then I got a message that an error was made by payroll and it would be clawed back, which it was within a day. Within a week that payroll employee was gone.

 

[EACarlson]

My first paycheck with my current company, it was the first time I had to fill out a time sheet electronically. I accidentally entered an extra 8 hours on my time sheet and got paid for 8 hours of overtime. Brought it to the attention of my manager and HR the next day and they reduced my next check by that amount. Thought it may have been a test until I realized what I had done.

 

[tvguy]

My first paycheck with my current company, it was the first time I had to fill out a time sheet electronically. I accidentally entered an extra 8 hours on my time sheet and got paid for 8 hours of overtime. Brought it to the attention of my manager and HR the next day and they reduced my next check by that amount. Thought it may have been a test until I realized what I had done.

Surprised that over time wasn't caught by the manager who approved your time sheet. Every place I worked, if they didn't have prior authorization for overtime, it was caught before payroll went in.

 

[tvguy]

Once I noticed what I thought was a supplementary bonus payment via direct deposit. I thought that it was a correction because my original bonus seemed rather low. Then I got a message that an error was made by payroll and it would be clawed back, which it was within a day. Within a week that payroll employee was gone.

I worked at a place where the payroll clerk was escorted out of the building in handcuffs. Overtime from working double shifts were not uncommon, and she would divert a quarter hour from people with 8 hours overtime and they would never notice. Not sure how they caught her, but I guess it added up to about $2,000 a pay period she diverted.

 

[MrsPete]

No, but it happened to a friend of mine. They overpaid her by a small amount for several months -- she'd just had some changes in her deductions or something, so she genuinely didn't know. When they realized, the pulled it all out of one check without telling her what was happening. That's some weak tea.

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

It happened to me one time several years ago. I was overpaid due to a Payroll mistake. I brought it to their attention and they wanted me to write them a check (this was before everything was automated, I think, and at a large aerospace company). I told them that I would wait for them to dock the following paycheck so I had an accurate record of what I was paid.

 

[Lord Manhammer]

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

No, I have never experienced this.

 

[jliehr]

My whole department was outsourced and we were to be paid out extended sick time at a calculated rate (.25 or .5 maybe?) and payroll calculated it as straight time instead. Lots of people had like 600 plus hours so they got 20-30K, it got clawed back quickly and some threw a fit as they had already planned to spend the money. My overpay was like $3-4K.

 

[mylilnikita]

Yes.

I had another worker accidentally put in my employee number) this would be found out after ward).
So I go in the my employee portal and see I have extra hours . So I email my boss like you l kw I did t work a couple double please let payroll know. She responds ok.
They didn’t fix it and she approved ( computer work not her forte).
I didn’t know until my check was deposited. I emailed my boss but she was off the next couple days. She came back and payroll realized the mistake then sent a email of how next paycheck they would be taking it out.
It almost happened again and I emailed her and payroll and was like this is not correct time and amount let’s not have a repeat.


One time with Child Support;
Somehow they gave me a payment twice in same week, which I was like oh I guess ex made a double payment.
A week later I say hey thanks for double payment. He was like I didn’t. The same day CS sends a letter which was snotty as if I made them make the mistake saying I pay it back or they will take it from next time.
So I wrote back they can take it from next month , I also had printed from the website their process of double checking before they process the money I to the account. I then suggested they retrain the person because it should have come out of their paycheck.

 

[amylevan]

Yes. I was overpaid significantly (several thousand). It was direct deposit and I noticed immediately and brought it to the attention of HR. They never really could figure out what went wrong, my timesheet was correct and approved, and that’s what was sent to the payroll company. So somehow the payroll company screwed up.

The payroll company reversed the direct deposit (apparently that’s a thing) and I was issued a live paper check for the correct amount. It took a few days to get sorted, but thankfully we don’t live paycheck to paycheck so we were ok.

 

[slo]

It never happened to me

 

[goodeats]

Many years ago I started at a Fortune 500 co (1,000s of EEs) mid-paycycle. My first check was one week's pay and then my second check was three week's pay. Since we were paid bi-weekly I was double paid for that one week. I told the payroll department and they deducted the week on my next check. I wonder if I had never told them if they would have caught it, but best to be honest.

 

[EACarlson]

Surprised that over time wasn't caught by the manager who approved your time sheet. Every place I worked, if they didn't have prior authorization for overtime, it was caught before payroll went in.

The useless middle manager that I worked for when I started here approved the time sheet, apparently not noticing that mine was different from everyone else's for the week. Really showed me how inept he was at his job, but also how little attention was paid.

 

[tvguy]

The payroll company reversed the direct deposit (apparently that’s a thing) and I was issued a live paper check for the correct amount. It took a few days to get sorted, but thankfully we don’t live paycheck to paycheck so we were ok.

Oh yes, reversing a direct deposit is a thing. I looked at my online bank statement one pay day and my paycheck had been deposited 5 times, and reversed 4 times that day. And financial institutions that credit you with your paycheck two days early baffle me, at least if they involve employers like my former one who did not even submit the payroll to be direct deposited until pay day..........and they were timed to hit your account at 9 am pay day. And that is 9 am in YOUR time zone. We had locations in all 4 time zones in the continental U.S. so the paychecks were sent out 4 different times on pay day.

 

[Robber Baron]

Over the years I've had quite a few times that my paycheck was short, sometimes a very substantial amount.

It's funny those innocent bookeeping errors ALWAYS went the same way.

 

[tony67]

Short answer Yes.

I guess it was easy to fix as they just pulled back the money a few weeks later...but that left me in a tight spot which made it a PITA to fix.

My own fault though.

Oh and same company did not even pay me one time - they were overdrawn.
They fixed it and gave me a case of beer - but was a pain - part of the reason I did not say anything when they overpaid me.