If my company direct deposits my paycheck to somone elses account are the still legally required to pay me?
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If my company direct deposits my paycheck to somone elses account are the still legally required to pay me?
I was with a company for 3 years left for 1
year and went back to it. When I got hired
back I went to set up direct deposit but
there was already an account number there, I
assumed it was my account number since all of
my other information was still in the system.
Flash forward 3 weeks and my employer says my
paycheck was direct deposited into my account
but it is not in my account. I take direct
deposit off but since it takes 2 weeks to
change my next paycheck also gets sent to
this other persons account. My job and their
bank send an indemnification letter to my
bank asking for my paychecks back from this
other persons account. After over a month
there is no response and my job tells me they
are no longer trying to persue my paycheck
and they are not going to give me new
paycheck since they technical paid me even
tho it never got to me. Is there anything I
can do? I have talked to my bank and they
said they cant do anything either. Please
help.
Asked on February 23, 2016 under Employment Labor Law, Kansas
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 8 years ago | Contributor
The issue comes down to who was at fault: if the employer, they have to pay you, even if they never get their money back; if you, they don't have to pay you, though you can sue the recipient for the money (he can't keep money he's not legally entitled to just because someone made a mistake). You write that you were given an account number to check and "assumed" it was yours...even if the company put the wrong information in originally, your failure to double check and worse, your then either explicitly or implicitly telling the employer that the number was correct (by not giving them a correction) most likely means that a court would find this was your fault, since you had the last opportunity to correct the situation but failed to do so. If you tried to sue your company to force them to pay, therefore, there's a reasonably good chance you'd lose. You may be best off suing the recipient.
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