Legal Question in Employment Law in Pennsylvania

Re: company's error, are they responsible for fees?

You asked if a payor is responsible for fees incurred by a payee when a negotiable instrument was improperly stopped.

Your situation is not uncommon. And you should be able to work it out with a minimum of fuss. You should inform each party of exactly what happened and why.

The company should not have a problem paying the fees providing they are legitimate. You will need to demonstrate that the fees were in fact paid. Also you should see if you can get a letter from the employer explaining the situation to the bank. The bank may reduce the fees and even if it doesn't the letter will prevent you from being looked at as a bad customer or having your account reported to a check approval service (such as Chex Systems).

A payor has no right to stop payment on a negotiable instrument barring fraud on the part of the payee or a very few excepted circumstances. In some situations it is even a crime to issue a stop payment order. But here it was an error on the part of the payor and the law is clear that the payor is responsible for the charges you incurred.

Be diplomatic and make certain that you bring the matter to the attention of the right people. Hope this helps.

Regards,

Roger Traversa