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Not at all, and none.

If your fiancee wrote a check that overpaid a store or utility, would she expect that they would be able to keep the extra money with no penalty since it was her mistake, or would she expect a refund or credit?

She can ask them for an accounting showing the overpayment, but she has NO legal right to keep the money if they actually did overpay her. They can sue her for it, and they will almost certainly win.

In the case of an "overpayment" of wages, the employer does have the right and expectation of recouping the additional funds. The fact that your fiance has separated employment is not relevant. If this issue is not resolved, the former employer may make a civil claim against your fiance for recovery of moneys.

Think of it this way! If your fiance was underpaid, she would expect the employer to correct the situation by issuing a check for the difference. The employer has the same right if the situation was reversed.

Regarding taxes, upon resolution of this issue, the employer should issue a W-2c for the tax year in question. Your fiance would need to file amended returns (for Federal, State, and Local/City if applicable), as a result.

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No one said it was her responsibility to see she is paid correctly. However, that does not mean she is immune from responsibility to correct the error now that it has been brought to her attention.

It takes as long as it takes. Payroll records are not necessarily audited each and every week, or even month. The fact that it took them seven months is not remotely enough to excuse her from repaying it.

When you overpay a store and they refuse to refund you because it's your own stupid fault, come back again and tell us how fair it is for them to keep your money.

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They're not required to be fair. They're required to be legal. And they are.

I'm not quite sure what I said that was "snippy". You asked a question. I answered it. Don't shoot the messenger because the message is not what you wanted to hear.

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I do not think cbg intended to come off as "snippy".

While we can understand that this may be unwelcome, the information provided is correct. We do not make up the work rules and regulations that govern them.

Part of the responsibility lies on the employee to assure he/she is paid correctly. This is why it is very important to keep your pay stubs and copies of timesheets. You mentioned in your original post that your fiance mentioned it was a higher than normal. Your fiance could have confirmed her pay at that time and contacted the appropriate persons for explanation of wages if she were unclear. Doing that could have prevented this whole matter from from reaching this point.

With all due respect, you're speaking to volunteers who are providing you this information for free and who are not being paid for doing so. If you're looking for warm and fuzzy answers, write to Dear Abby, or pay someone to give you the same advice with all the coddling you desire. That's not what you're going to get here.

And while the first response was not intended to be snippy, you may rest assured that this one was.