Company Letter sounds bogus. California

[apollyoncruiser]

I was terminated from a company September 4, 2005. Supposedly I was out on FMLA but I didn't know it. The company was calling all the shots. They even cut a check for my un-used vacation in late August showing their intentions were to get rid of me. They then sent a letter in October saying they over-paid me for the pay period of 09/26/05-10/09/05 and they were seeking repayment of those funds.

Then, they sent me this letter:

Dear Mr. X

This is a response to your letter dated September 5, 2005 addressed to the Payroll Manager. We have reviewed your request and determined that there is an account receivable amount of $589.60 owed by you.

The amount owed is the result of the wrong inclusion of 16 hours of regular time and 8 hours of overtime for the total of $701.20 in your pay statment dated 10/14/05. You were not entitled to these earnings since you had exhausted your Non-Industrial disability half pay benefits' quota on 09/12/05.

The amount calculated in error ($701.20) on your pay statment was sufficient to cover taxes, medical, dental, voluntary AD & D, group universal life insurance, a portion of Union Dues for USW Local XXX, Savings Before- and After- taxes as well as Savings Loan deductions. A zero net pay statement was the result of the above mentioned situation and therefore no funds were transferred to your bank account.

A total claim of $589.60 is the result of the correction stated in your pay statement dated 10/21/05, which includes the elimination of the gross overpayment amount of $701.20, the inclusion of medical and dental through 10/31/05, partially offset by the adjustments to your Savings Before and After taxes and voluntary AD & D. '"

The letter ends by saying if I have any questions about my account please call.

Can anyone explain this to me in layman's terms?

How can a person be fired in September of 05 (my last actual day on the job was July of 05), and get hours to cover the taxes, loan payments against their 401k, Union dues, etc in October?

(I didn't ask them to pay this and they hadn't been paying it while I was out July, August and September)

It was made to look like I actually worked 16 hours of regular time and 8 hours of overtime during the last days of September going into October according to them, to cover my expenses. These were listed on the pay stub as hours actually worked, like I was at work when I wasn't.

Please explain this to me. I think it's a bogus and a bunch on crap but the way these companies are spinning things these days to try to survive all rules and rights are history.

[Dolphin76]

I am a bit confused. you were out on FMLA and you didn't know it?

How long have you been out of work and why?

Also, Did you receive a paycheck for 9/24/08 - 10/9/08? or a paystub?

[apollyoncruiser]

I really didn't know what was happening

I was just sent out one day. I know its confusing but I can only tell you what I experinced.

I had a mild nervous breakdown ofter being bullied and harrassed on job. Had back pains and other maladies due to stress. I was trying to get myself back on track when they just one day up and drove me to the gate with no warning, union representation or information. I was told by the job's nurse to get my health issues in order.

I just got a paystub in October. No monies were paid to me. Just (as they put it) for my benefit. They took this upon themselves since I was already gone.

I actually just started working a few months ago. It has taken me from mid 05to now to get a job.

[Pattymd]

If you had only worked there less than a year, you weren't on FMLA.

How do you get a paystub without a check attached? Or are you talking about a direct deposit advice?

What was your last day worked?

[apollyoncruiser]

Last day work July 1, 05

Had direct deposit but no monies went into my account. I wasn't paid anything, the company letter reads to me as if they decided to make these payments own their own, without consulting me because, as stated, I had already been let go.

If you follow my posts you will see certain things happened even after I was sent off the job and after they had terminated me. I had been there over four years so I was eligible for FMLA although, as I stated earlier, I didn't know that's what I was off the job under because they didn't tell me anything.

So in summary, is what this company saying correct? Can they just make up "payment" and hours for a person even after they have fired them and then demand monies? Has anyone ever seen a letter like this or is this a cover your "butt" situation gone bad?

[cyjeff]

Why are we even discussing a letter you received over 3 years ago?

[Pattymd]

I think maybe the company is stating the overpayment occurred in 2005, but the letter was just received in October of this year.

If this is the correcting assumption, OP, why don't you just call them as they invited you to? They did explain to my satisfaction why the net pay on the stub was zero (at least the mathematical calculation).

In any case, they can sue you if they want. Having said that, though, I've been a payroll manager for some large employer over the years and there is NO WAY I would go back to an ex-employee about an alleged overpayment of less than $600 that occurred three years ago. I would be too embarrassed that I had such rotten audit controls and balancing procedures. But that's just me.

[apollyoncruiser]

No, can't call, we're in litigation. But......

My question even at this late date is simply can a employer just make up hours an employee worked when the employee isn't even at work?

The letter came after I suffered harrassement and discrimination and made a DFEH complaint in 06. (Got a right to sue letter) My lawyer had me write the Union and they claimed they could do nothing for me. Then, he took my case and the trial is set for March 09.

Within this situation are many confusing issues to me as a lay person that need to find answers to.

1. I was bullied, harrassed, and marginalized on the job. A guy even tried to fight me for I don't know what. When I tried to talk to him, the silent treatment. Situations were set up for me to argue about but I'm no good at that so I would just reason to let things go for the sake of peace and cooperation.

2. The company nurse seemed to be trying to start arguments and fights when I would ask questions to try to figure out what to do. She sent me paperwork to go places with just an address. No business name or anything just an address. When I called to get better instructions it was as if I set off WW3 to the staff there own the job.

3. The HR director was crytic in his information. When I ran across my head supervisor, the big guy, he told me to tell the doctors I what they needed to hear so I could get back to work becuase "the guys" needed me. Those same guys had already mark me for gone because they had put up a message on the Wall of Shame marking me as having left the job somehow even before I was gone.

4. I was just picked up and driven outside the jobsite with no papers, directions or instructions. On our drive out a guy whom I assumed later was a union stewart stopped in his truck and the guy driving me stopped, he asked "do you know whats going on?" I didn't know what was happening. I referenced this as a drive-by in one of my letters to the company afterwards. I had been told by a few co-worker that I had said I was quitting and that was the rumour going around. I had made no such statement.

5. I was sent to a place by the company nurse where they had me crawl on the floor and told me to bark like a dog. When I complained to HR I got a phone message saying I would be terminated for job abandonment if I didn't return by the end of September. Huh? When you sent me out in July you told me nothing and now I had to be back on full duty in a week with no clear understanding of my health condition?

6. While I was going through this I wasn't getting paid so I'm trying to talk with the HR person on the Job, and the HR person at HQ, payroll on the job and at HQ, EDD for ST Disability payments and eligibilty. the Union, etc. I got no instructions on what i needed to do and what was happening. But every two weeks came a pay statement saying I owed x amount to cover an accounts receivable amount. (Which I, the dutiful little slave, paid! I mean you really want to do things right as a black guy.) Sill, at this point I'm not thinking they had it in for me.

After this and a few other things I was just so confused I didn't know what to do. I suffer from depression and had panic attcks and a nervous breakdown. After that I didn't go back because #1 I was afraid and was mentally disabled for a time. I had also made plans to fly out of town due to a family issue.

So, I've been asking questions to asertain if companies can just disregard the rules and ethics laws when it comes to how we're as employee's are treated. Can they just make up a pay statement, then say they've paid you and when you prove no monies went into your account, turn around a say we paid for taxes, medical, dental, voluntary AD & D, group universal life insurance, a portion of Union Dues for USW Local XXX, Savings Before- and After- taxes as well as Savings Loan deductions? They weren't paying these things when I was off work in July, August and September. (I had to write a check to pay them each pay period) Why would they pay them in October after they had fired me in early September?

So remember my question is: Can a employer just make up a pay statement showing hours an employee worked when the employee isn't even at work? Then, turn around and demand that money back when they had already fired you a whole month before? Isn't this covering up for something? And, does it matter in a court of law? To me it seems as if it doesn't and if that's the case, we're all in deep doodoo!

I know this may seem complex but it really isn't. I was railroaded out of my job because it was me against who knows how many. I know I'm not the only person this has happened to and I won't be the last. By posting so questions I can share my experience and hopefully alert the next person being discriminated against or being mistreated by an employer. If we have these laws and rules employer should be held to them. If we don't stand up and fight for what's right we'll just have to accept these things from employers.

So the situation is like this in a nut shell: Bullied/Harrassed on job. Suffered breakdown/ Went back on light duty 6 weeks/Sent off job in July/ More confusion/discrimination/harrassment-did not return to job-complained/Threatened-Job Abandonment/Fired September/Letter stating Acct Rec amount in October.

Now if you respond please be sure you understand the facts and how things happened. Some of the answers have been great but some have been redundant. Redundant I say they have been.

[Pattymd]

You don't get to tell the posters how to respond. Honestly, your posts are so long and the issues appear to be so complex, I don't think ANY internet forum can give you the answers you appear to be seeking. I didn't read the novel closely enough to find out what you're in litigation for, but I suggest you ask these questions of your attorney.

I'm a payroll person. I answered the payroll question according to the law. I don't know what else I can tell you.

[apollyoncruiser]

Well, I spoke to my lawyer yesterday and.....

even though I suffered all this discrimination and injustice, the company will win. They'll throw a few grand at me and that will be it. He went on to explain some things I won't disclose here but suffice it to say, the judicial system in America is a sad joke. It won't be long before total anarchy begans because we're living under a system that just disregard law whenever it suits their certain ends.

In a small way I'm kind of glad they'll get away with it because it only cements their own end.

[smartrefinance]

even though I suffered all this discrimination and injustice, the company will win. They'll throw a few grand at me and that will be it. He went on to explain some things I won't disclose here but suffice it to say, the judicial system in America is a sad joke. It won't be long before total anarchy begans because we're living under a system that just disregard law whenever it suits their certain ends.

In a small way I'm kind of glad they'll get away with it because it only cements their own end.

well yes, America has been corrupt in many ways one being the injustice system and most of the time the one with the most money will always win, i mean look at the OJ Simpson trial, the obvious was overruled.