Retail Comic bonus check~

[notalwaysright]

From today's Retail.

Cooper gets a $28,000 bonus check for helping close a Grumbles. So folks, what do you think, is this going to be the correct number, or will corporate try to say it's a mistake? There's a lot of commenting on the other site saying once an employee is paid it can't (or can) be changed. I think at my work, if accounting messes up, they can take that amount from my next paycheck. It's never ever happened in all my working life, but I'm sure I've seen it in the paperwork somewhere.

[csquared]

This story line will have to run on. This can't be the end. Something will happen (and not just the ring).

[EricKei]

In my experience, yes, they can deduct accidental overages from future paychecks -- possibly to a point, e.g. 1/3 of the gross per check, I think? Not my area of expertise. It's happened to me before, but along the lines of 5 hours' pay or so.

[Nunavut Pants]

It has happened to me.

Fortunately, they gave me a raise to cover the deduction, and the raise stayed after they had recovered the amount. (I was still drastically underpaid, though!)

[Arcus]

My old employer overpaid one of my coworkers. They just kept the next two paychecks. When the employee complained that they couldn't pay their rent, they were told that they should have known and saved the overage. The employee filed a complaint and found out it was legal in that state. The employer couldn't demand that the employee return the money, but they could deduct it from future paychecks. Most employers wouldn't take the entire check because that is the quickest way to get someone to quit before the money is recovered.

[lordlundar]

It does vary between employer, location, and even job. When worked retail I was overpaid and the company just took the hit when I notified them. By contrast, my current technician job is contract work So if there is an overage I have to cough up the missing money and send it back.

[MoonCat]

If we were overpaid, we had to return it. I don't recall hearing of it happening more than once my entire time there. Payroll was pretty on the ball.

I remember in the comic strip, Cooper said that Stuart told him the check would be somewhere around $2000. My guess is it was supposed to be $2800 but someone added an extra zero by mistake. He was saving for a ring for Val, so $2800 would buy a nice one, I suppose.

[notalwaysright]

I remember in the comic strip, Cooper said that Stuart told him the check would be somewhere around $2000. My guess is it was supposed to be $2800 but someone added an extra zero by mistake. He was saving for a ring for Val, so $2800 would buy a nice one, I suppose.

Yeah, that's probably what will happen. I don't plan on marrying, but if I ever did I hope the guy would know I don't want to spend money on a shiny rock. But whatever, people spend their money the way they want.

And Cooper shouldn't act all like "oh I could have kept it because they likely wouldn't have noticed." Ethics are in play here, and if you know it's not right, you should say something even if you could have gotten away with it.

[Arcus]

After talking with Marla, Here is what Cooper did.

[Jetfire]

He did the right thing in the end, though it has to be a bit of a gut punch. Still, I probably wouldn't shred the cheque right away, but save it until I was officially paid for the time. As mentioned, it was probably a fat finger error, hitting an extra zero. And despite what Stuart said, accounting would eventually notice and track down where the money went one way or another.

Hopefully Cooper is smart/savy enough to track his income too for taxes; if they don't properly correct it, he could be on the hook for the taxes on that 28k even if he didn't accept it.

As usual though, we now get a week or so of filler until we find out how things finally wrap up.