Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Virginia

Re: overpayment after termination

Normally, if you receive money that does not belong to you, you have to return it, unless it can be understood to be a gift.

However, I doubt that it is very clear in this situation whether you are entitled to the money or not.

You already had an ongoing employment relationship in which you were legitimately being paid salary and you were entitled to receive that salary. At the end of employment, it is not unusual to pay a severance package. And although two months is more than in most jobs, it is not unheard of by any means to receive 2 months' worth of severance. It is common for companies to try to get a confidentiality agreement AFTER you are leaving. The only way ANY agreement you sign on your way out the door can be enforced is IF they make a substiantial, additional payment, like 2 months' extra pay. Otherwise, the exit agreements are not legally binding without additional payments.

Also, simply because you got paid for 2 months after leaving does not mean that all 2 months' worth is in doubt. You know that when you start working, you may have to wait a month for your first paycheck, because you are getting paid after the fact. In the same way, after you quit, there is a backlog of payment because again you are getting paid after the fact. So you should expect to receive some salary after you left, which you earned before you left. So some of that, I would imagine, cannot be questioned. It would have to be examined very carefully.

Therefore, just because they say they want the money back does not automatically tell us whether they are entitled to it or not. To prove their case in court they would need to claim that they paid you money they should not have paid you. It is relatively more believable that the money was severance pay. Perhaps someone in the company wanted to pay you that money, but another person disagreed after the fact. That's not your problem if they have different opinions inside the company.

Their problem is going to be explaining why they paid you if they shouldn't have, when there are alternate explanations that don't involve them making a mistake. Furthermore, a difference of opinion about whether or not to pay you severance is again their internal problem, not your problem.

Finally, the money can also be looked at as a gift. You can also tell the judge that -- under the law -- if they made a gift, whether understood as severance or whatever, you have no obligation to return it.

For these reasons, it is possible that they might not actually go to court over it.

Re: overpayment after termination

If the amount that your former employer is attempting to recover from you is $6000, that amount is large enough that they are likely to pursue it, even if it means filing legal action against you. However, it might be advisable to wait and see what actions they actually undertake

before remitting any payments if there's any doubt as to what you may actually owe them.