Legal and moral question...

[UD_Delt]

So, recently I left my job at a large bank (top 10) to begin a new career at a small university. I had been with the bank for 8 years and I left the position on good terms, gave my 2 week written notice, but highly doubt I will ever go back to work for that same company. When I submitted my written notice I sent it to my manager as well as his manager. I then followed that up with a goodbye email to coworkers and friends including CC'ing 2 people in HR.

It's been over a month now since I left, and the thing is, they're still paying me... I left on the 12th of May. The first paycheck on May 15th I expected. I found the next paycheck on May 30th to be a little odd but assumed that I must have been payed further in arrears than I realized. The last paycheck on June 15th just can't be right. I'm pretty sure I just somehow slipped through the cracks in the bureaucracy.

So, now I'm debating whether or not I should call them and tell them or if I should just see how long this lasts until they "fix the glitch".

That leads me to a few questions:

1. Do I have a legal obligation to notify them?

2. Do I have a moral obligation to notify them?

3. Do I have a legal or moral obligation to return the over payments and how do I determine the right amount seeing as they never credited me for unused vacation and such since I technically haven't been cut my "final" check.


Thoughts?


Edit: Oh yeah and I'm back now. If anyone even noticed my disappearance its because the former company decided to block F13 as part of a crackdown on message boards in general so I wasn't able to post from work anymore. The university on the other hand is MUCH more liberal.

[Ironwood]

Yes, yes and yes.

Don't be a douchebag.  It's not your money and you didn't earn it.

Give it back.

As to the payments, you let them figure it out properly and only take action if the figure wildly disagrees with yours.



Edited to be softer.

[Signe]

That happened to me and, yes, you have to give the money back.  A company I worked for kept paying me after I quit and I kept returning the money.  They finally stopped after about two months and then they asked for the money back even though I had returned it every time.  After it was all straightened out, strangely, the secretary seemed to blame me.  I guess if I had never quit, this would have never happened?

[CmdrSlack]

Return the checks.  You shouldn't have cashed them in the first place, quite honestly.

Obviously someone somewhere goofed up, and not only is it the right thing to do, but you'll likely help them figure out how the hell you're still getting checks -- which may fix something somewhere.

Besides, it's a huge bank. Do you really want them up your ass? Because my guess is that that's where they'll be if you don't bring it to their attention before they figure it out.

[Big Gulp]

What everyone else said: it's not your money, and they will want it back.  Depositing the check was your first mistake, don't compound it.

[Roac]

What everyone else said: it's not your money, and they will want it back.  Depositing the check was your first mistake, don't compound it.

Not only do they want it back, but they will get it back one way or another.  Things will go much better if you are cooperative and proactive.

[UD_Delt]

Return the checks.  You shouldn't have cashed them in the first place, quite honestly.

Obviously someone somewhere goofed up, and not only is it the right thing to do, but you'll likely help them figure out how the hell you're still getting checks -- which may fix something somewhere.

Besides, it's a huge bank. Do you really want them up your ass? Because my guess is that that's where they'll be if you don't bring it to their attention before they figure it out.

To be clear I never cashed any checks. These are auto-deposits into my bank account. I have no control over my paychecks past or current.

I was just curious as to what everyone's opinion was.

It appears this is nearly standard practice as I mentioned this to a few friends as well over the weekend who also used to work at the bank. They also received extra paychecks anywhere up to one or two extra up to 3 months. Oddly enough my friend who received them for 3 months was the only one who repeatedly called HR to inform them of the error. In no case has anyone been asked for the money back. In the case of the 3 month error her answer on returning the money was that it would cost them more in legal costs to pursue the matter than it would to just let her keep it.

I'm planning on calling them this afternoon and will update with the answer from HR.

[Bunk]

I find that hilarious, considering I was just docked $183.00 off of my last paycheck, because the accounting department just discovered that they were miscalculating our commissions since the beginning of the year. We basically got an email saying "Sorry, we made a booboo, we are going to correct it by clawing back the difference off of your next cheque - which is in three days."

[Yegolev]

Stupid banks.  I should start my own.

[MrHat]

Stupid banks.  I should start my own.

Seriously.

Banks and Insurance.

So wrong.

[Signe]

If you subscribe to my religion, I'll subscribe to your bank.

[MrHat]

First Bank of Signism

"Now selling Hell Insurance".

[Chimpy]

If you subscribe to my religion, I'll subscribe to your bank.

Sounds very Scientologist.

[voodoolily]

I guess I'd call your ex-supervisor and see if you weren't getting paid for unclaimed vacation, or if maybe he/she was trying to squeeze you into a little severance package. If not, then it's up to them whether or not you hafta pay it back.

[Murgos]

I say take the cash and go to Vegas.  You'll win enough money to cover it if they want it back AND you'll have a little somethin, somethin for the pocket.

Also, if you don't win right away just dip into the ol savings account to cover the losses and keep betting.  Take a loan out on the 401k if you gotta.  Trust me, you'll make a fortune.

[Oban]

Great movie:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0285861/

[UD_Delt]

Well I spoke to someone in payroll. Apparently I called early enough for them to put a stop payment on the check from the 15th (damn). As far as the check from the 30th it was an overpayment but they are not interested in me returning that one. So, they hold true to their non-collection practices.

[Ironwood]

Which is fine.  Because then it's their fault and your conscience is clear.

Like that time Dell sent me two servers (top of the line) and when I phoned to speak to someone high up he said 'It's more trouble than it's worth to reship it.  You keep it.'

That was awesome.

[Nija]

Screw what everyone else is saying. Put the checks right into one of those 5.05% interest HSBC savings accounts. So you can take it right back out when they ask for it back.


Unless, of course, it was HSBC that you worked for.

[bhodi]

I agree with nija. I'd have stuck it an ing direct account until they asked for the money back. The interest is for MY trouble.

[Hoax]

Yeah everyone else obvious has plenty of money or likes to seem like they can ride a high horse on the internet.

Free money = you keep it but dont spend it for awhile just in case anyone catches on.  You can always say later you didn't notice the direct deposits.  They didn't notice they were sending them you aren't obligated to pay any more attention then they do.

[Strazos]

[CmdrSlack]

Yeah everyone else obvious has plenty of money or likes to seem like they can ride a high horse on the internet.

Free money = you keep it but dont spend it for awhile just in case anyone catches on.  You can always say later you didn't notice the direct deposits.  They didn't notice they were sending them you aren't obligated to pay any more attention then they do.

Heh, you truly are a vapid kid aren't you?  It doesn't matter if he "didn't notice" the fucking money go in, it's still his ass in the sling if he doesn't tell them what has happened. But yeah, feel free to make your assumptions about high horses, etc.

[Ironwood]

Yeah everyone else obvious has plenty of money or likes to seem like they can ride a high horse on the internet.

Free money = you keep it but dont spend it for awhile just in case anyone catches on.  You can always say later you didn't notice the direct deposits.  They didn't notice they were sending them you aren't obligated to pay any more attention then they do.

Yeah, because banks work TOTALLY like your parents man.

 

[Tebonas]

Depends on whom it happens to and if they want to cover their asses against their bosses by moving aggressively against you.

I work in IT at a bank myself. They can be real bastards if they want to. And they have a good connection to agencies prosecuting unwilling clients. You could end up being charged interests for the money you took (because they easily can determine when you last checked your account and therefore have knowledge of the error. Not understanding your financial status after that is as irrelevant as not knowing it was illegal if you didn't stop at a red light).

[Murgos]

Shh, let him try it.  He'll figure out that the error might be with the bank but the onus is on him to report it.  I mean, when his account is suddenly docked the total amount of the payments putting his account into the red cause he spent it and then he is charged fees that make the overpayment look like the buck granpa used to slip you when you were 5.

The really cool part is when you call to complain and they go, "Well it weren't your fucking money was it toots?  Sheriff will be around to shake you down for his cut collect a statement in a bit."

[Merusk]

...is as irrelevant as not knowing you don't stop at a red light).

Note to self: Petition congressman to not allow IT immigrants driving privileges in the US...

 :-D

[Tebonas]

I blame my lacking foreign language skills. Yeah, thats it. Nice catch, I will feel dumb for the whole day now! 

[Yegolev]

Lots of double-negatives in proper Austrian, then?

[Tebonas]

Could be, never heard of that language :)

While I am not beyond using Litotes that wasn't the case here. I simply was distracted by work related stuff and lost myself in the middle of the sentence

[Hoax]

Yeah everyone else obvious has plenty of money or likes to seem like they can ride a high horse on the internet.

Free money = you keep it but dont spend it for awhile just in case anyone catches on.  You can always say later you didn't notice the direct deposits.  They didn't notice they were sending them you aren't obligated to pay any more attention then they do.

Heh, you truly are a vapid kid aren't you?  It doesn't matter if he "didn't notice" the fucking money go in, it's still his ass in the sling if he doesn't tell them what has happened. But yeah, feel free to make your assumptions about high horses, etc.

You're a towel.

[UD_Delt]

Well I spoke to someone in payroll. Apparently I called early enough for them to put a stop payment on the check from the 15th (damn). As far as the check from the 30th it was an overpayment but they are not interested in me returning that one. So, they hold true to their non-collection practices.

And so it continues...

So, after waiting a few days my account balance never changed. I called them again on the 25th (June) and apparently they never got the stop payment in time for the check they issued on the 15th (June). So, no worries they tell me the problem is resolved and they aren't going to bother with the overpayments.

The 30th comes and goes and no paycheck. Cool they got it right and I'm in the clear now.

Sure enough I log into my online banking today and ANOTHER FUCKING CHECK (direct deposit actually). Jesus H. Christ who would have ever thought I'd be getting pissed  about getting extra paychecks but this is getting ridiculous. Guess I have yet another phone call to make this afternoon.

[tazelbain]

Can you tell the bank to block the transfers from someone?

[CmdrSlack]

You know, that's not a half-bad idea. You had to fill out forms to enable the direct deposit, there should be some way to undo that at your end.

[UD_Delt]

I'm not sure how that will work since the bank is basically depositing to one of it's own accounts.

You signed up for and received a bank account your very first day of work. I don't think there were even any direct deposit forms since it's a requirement and the only way you get paid is into their own checking account. As far as I know there's no option to have them direct your paychecks elsewhere.

I'm guessing if I told them to block transactions from themselves they'd just totally mess up my account.