Payroll Error In My Favor

I got overpaid on my latest paycheck by several hundred dollars. When we had guests at our house this month I took off some days without pay because I had run out of vacation days. I filled out my time sheet correctly, but it looks like payroll wasn't paying attention. At first I was delighted, then confused, then dismayed. I considered keeping the money (it's their mistake and obviously nobody had noticed, maybe I could just not notice either?) but my conscience compelled me to do the right thing. I sent a note to payroll and expect the money to be deducted from my next paycheck.

Le sigh.

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Sarah | Aug 31, 2007

Good karma will turn your way! You'll be glad that you fessed up to payroll now, because if you didn't, they probably would have deducted the money when you least wanted them to!

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Tom | Aug 31, 2007

I would have done the same thing. Just think if they would have caught the error and came to you asking why you didn't bring it up? ;)

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guinness416 | Aug 31, 2007

Possibly relevant discussion, if you're interested!

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Patrick | Aug 31, 2007

You did the right thing. Your actions will also be looked upon favorably by anyone who knows about the situation (i.e. manager, coworkers, etc.).

Of course, you didn't bring it up for that reason, but it sure can't hurt!

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Parker | Aug 31, 2007

You did the right thing.

When I was a co-op in college, I had missed a few days from a cold. When I returned, I entered my days off as sick time. It turns out that interns had no sick time and I was paid for it anyway. I also had to repay the 3 days I had taken, not to mention the other few over the course of 6 months.

Ouch.

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LH2004 | Sep 1, 2007

You screwed up by telling them.

It's not like counting the change that a cashier gives you, where he has no record or way of fixing it. Your employer knows how much your paycheck was, and all the information needed to calculate how much it should have been. You have no obligation to do your payroll department's job for them.

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Jack | Sep 1, 2007

One of my friends was overpaid over the course of six months by 20 or 25K. He reported this to his poorly managed employer, and they docked his pay about $10K. At that point, he felt he had done all he could.

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chosha | Sep 3, 2007

You didn't screw up. Apart from the karma aspects, and the fact that them finding out later would have lost you the trust of your boss and maybe your job (because it IS stealing to keep it), the simple fact is that you'd have gained a little money and lost a lot of integrity. It's only money.

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