Previous Employer claiming over-payment/Sent to CA

First, what was the actual amount of the check? Was it a direct deposit?

Second, what is your objective here? Do you JUST want to avoid the negative reporting? Or do you want the money and neg gone?

The reason I ask is this: it would be simple to avoid the CA reporting on your credit report by simply "paying back" the "overpayment", and end of story. I don't quite understand why the employer did not simply contact you directly and try to work out this "mistake", sending it to a CA seems to be overkill!

But......a couple of questions here:

1) Were you a "salaried employee" or were you paid hourly? If you were "salaried", then they must pay you for an entire week's salary regardless of time worked that week.

2) Did you have any vacation, sick time, etc. accrued? They also must pay you this (depending upon the terms of your leaving this job). If you were laid off or discharged, then they must pay you any accrued time.

3) There is a legal context here, IF they MAILED the check. If they direct deposited it, then that is a different set of circumstances. If they mailed you the check, there are some legal grounds that you do not have to pay.

If you have the time, a quick call to your state's Attorney General Office should help clarify the labor laws for your state. They should be able to give you a better understanding of how the laws in your state look at this.

Summary:

1) If you received a letter from the CA, write a "validation request", in this case specifically requesting the legal basis for collection.

2) Contact your state's Attorney General Office, and ask for advice (giving them all the details)

3) If you are collecting unemployment, speak to your local office, they are quite knowledgeable about these situations. And if you are unemployed at the moment, they do have free legal aid access.

4) Review your recent paycheck stubs, determine exactly if, and what you may have been "owed".

5) If the Human Resources department of your employer did not review what comprised your last check, then call and request an itemization (and justification) of what they claim you should be paid.

 

Okay, re-reading your post, I change my position on my advice!

First, I would go BALLISTIC over this!

Since you received the $83.XX check in the mail, I assume you have the check "stub" as proof of last payment for your services. If there were no further checks from your previous employer (say, direct deposit) you are definitely in the clear.

I would concurrently do two things:

1) Write a "Validation Request" to the CA, DEMANDING basis for amount, and REASON owed! I would insert language that this is almost fraud to attempt collection for monies not owed! Demand "detailed itemization for the amount, and how calculated, and DEMAND a copy of the check for this amount. DEMAND NO REPORTING TO CRAs, until "full and proper validation is received", with caveat any reporting will be considered a willful violation of the FDCPA, which you will seek legal recourse for damages on!

2) I would contact your previous employer and demand an explanation for this "owed amount of overpayment", and demand reason fro turning it over to a Collection Agency.

I would still contact your State's Attorney General Office, and review the situation with them. You do need to also determine if YOU were OWED this money, based upon my previous post.

As I said, I would be suing someone over a situation like this!

Also, take another look at your W-2 form, make sure this amount (that you did NOT get paid) was not included in your 2006 income reporting (your income taxes may be off here!).

 

I would invoke FDCPA and inform the CA that you dispute the debt and they are not to contact you about it again. If the employer wants to sue, you will be glad to accept service of the summons. if they report to a CRA they will be getting a summons.

Bizwiz' advice is good. You need to get aggressive about this - not stay passive.

 

You will want to see if your wages as reported on your W-2 are accurate.

Did they send you (and report to IRS) based on the payments you received?
If they paid you that, then the W-2 should reflect it.

You might also want to double check things like your withholding, SS and state SDI withholding, hours or days worked, etc, since if they messed up this basic accounting, they might have messed up something else, to your detriment.

 

Reading this (still) again, something is not right with this situation!

1) Have you received any written notice from the Collection Agency?

2) Have you contacted your previous employer and verified that they sent this to a Collection Agency?

3) What does the $733.XX figure equate to? (A week's pay, vacation time, etc.)

Upon further review, it would seem that they would have just canceled the check to you, once the error was discovered. Or your employer would have notified you and tried to work out repayment directly.

The scenario is like this: writing a check is an "order" to pay. You are "directing" your financial institution to make a payment to a payee. The premise is that "you know what you are doing when you draft the check". The "stop payment" feature is intended for the cases of human error or stopping payment due to the other party not holding up its part of the transaction.

But, there is an assumption that a business knows what it is doing, and takes prudent measures to ensure accuracy. That is why most businesses essentially hold your paycheck for nearly a week. This gives them time to process and verify, and make any corrections needed.

I am confused as to why your ex-employer did not simply stop payment on the check. There must have been sufficient time to stop any payroll in progress when you left your job.

IF you did not receive the check this CA refers to, then you have a case for wrongful suit. Also, you may have been LEGALLY owed this alleged wages amount.

Do your homework on this, something smells "funny" here! I don't know if this is a scam, or your ex-employer is up to something.