A couple years ago I was garnished for my student loans. Over the time of about a year the garnishment was paid off. About a month ago, I opened my paycheck and it was for over $2000. In the deductions section of my paystub, it said WRITofGarnishment in the amount of $1524. I for some reason got a refund on some of the garnishment that had been taken a long time ago. Now the payroll department is saying it was a glich/error and now are taking practically a 1/3 of paycheck for repayment. I only make 12.25 an hour and work 80 hours every two weeks. My paycheck today was for $424. Is it legal for them to take it back. I talked to someone in the payroll department and she said the payroll rep that had entered the information into the computer for the refund was out of the office untill the following Monday. She called me when she had gotten my message and told me it was an error and that it would have to be paid back. Why do I have to suffer from her mistake?

In the same vein, why should the company suffer for its mistakel? It appears obvious to me that the refund of previous garnishments deduction was in error. You don't get to profit from that.

Did you call and ASK about the deduction refund before you spent the money?

Yes I did and the lady looked into it, and said, you got a refund and she transferred me to the payroll rep that had entered it, into the computer. I left her a message just wanting to know why I was getting money back. If I would not of called it would of never came to be known. I work for the 2nd biggest employer in wayne county. So now I have to live off of 1/3 less of a paycheck because I was told I got a refund, then it was taken back.

And if you'd never gotten the refund, you never would have had the money in the first place.

They may legally require that you pay back money that you did not earn and were not due, but was paid to you in error. You can contact them and see if they will sit still for paying it back in installments instead of all at once, but that's about the only option I see.

I have talked with the head of the payroll department and she told me that yes it was a human error on their part and that I should not of been told that the money was entitled to me and then five days later relaize it was an error.

Fine. We all agree it's an error.

Doesn't change the fact that legally you have no grounds to stand on. If they want to write it off, they may; if they insist on being repaid, the law is not going to prohibit it just because it was an error.

The law does not say errors cannot be corrected.

What cbg meant to type was "no grounds to stand on". ;)

Corrected. :o

A couple years ago I was garnished for my student loans. Over the time of about a year the garnishment was paid off. About a month ago, I opened my paycheck and it was for over $2000. In the deductions section of my paystub, it said WRITofGarnishment in the amount of $1524. I for some reason got a refund on some of the garnishment that had been taken a long time ago. Now the payroll department is saying it was a glich/error and now are taking practically a 1/3 of paycheck for repayment. I only make 12.25 an hour and work 80 hours every two weeks. My paycheck today was for $424. Is it legal for them to take it back. I talked to someone in the payroll department and she said the payroll rep that had entered the information into the computer for the refund was out of the office untill the following Monday. She called me when she had gotten my message and told me it was an error and that it would have to be paid back. Why do I have to suffer from her mistake?

https://legislature.mi.gov/(S(q30yqxrgz5glduzzbmlm0nqd))/mileg.aspx?page=getObject&objectname=mcl-408-477

No, they can't take that much back at one time...you have to be notified one pay period ahead of time and it must be no more than 15% of your gross wages...here's the law that says so in the link above.

Thank you for the information; however, since this thread is from five months ago and the poster has not been back, I suspect the situation is resolved by now.