Legal Question in Business Law in California

Previous Employer Overpaid Me

I have run into a problem similar to ''Previous Employer Overpaid Me in Georgia!!!'' I also have been overpaid by my previous employer, but in CA. My employer forgot to take me off the payroll when I quit to attend law school. My problem is that the pay I received looked ligit; it showed volunteer hours I worked (which were actually from the previous pay period) and and a quarterly incentive I earned on that pay period. I honestly thought I had earned the money for that pay period and I paid my law school tuition and took out loans based on the money I had. Now they say that I have been overpaid by ~$2,000. I want to pay them back, but I cannot manage on my current student budget. I have no income as I am not allowed to work my first year of law school. Can I prolong paying them until next semester when I can take out new student loans? How should I resolve this?


Asked on 9/15/07, 2:01 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Bryan Whipple Bryan R. R. Whipple, Attorney at Law

Re: Previous Employer Overpaid Me

Most first-year law students would be taking contracts. This is a perfect contract-law question involving what is probably a second-semester issue involving restitution. I would say "Ask your professor." For those not enrolled in a contracts class, I would suggest negotiating with the employer; the circumstances suggest that it would be completely fair and also practical to solve this by giving them a promissory note payable in a lum sum either (1) in X months when you think you can get a student loan, or (2) in X years when you graduate and get a full time job.

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Answered on 9/15/07, 2:26 pm


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