What would you do if you got overpaid?

Nurses General Nursing

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The night of pay, most of the staff look up their paystubs online. I looked mine up last night and noticed that I was over paid by 1500 dollars. For a moment I daydreamed about what I could do with the extra money.:cheeky: Ofcourse, I never had any real intention of not notifying payroll.

I showed my co-workers and to my surprise many of them advised me to not say anything. In fact, only one agreed that I was doing the right thing.

I thought things like this would be a no brainer but apparently not.

Well, I went to pay roll this am and got it taken care of. The lady working in payroll thanked me for my honestly and said eventually they do found out and it would not have looked good if I didn't say anything.

So morale of the story.... if you ever get over paid fess up. Although I don't think there is anything wrong with having a few short moments to fantasize about having money.

Specializes in Trauma Surgery, Nursing Management.

A co-worker was brought to the NM's office one morning, and she was told that payroll had been overpaying her throughout the year, and they would be deducting (in installments) $5,000 from her future paychecks. She was busy preparing for her wedding in the next few months, and she was CRUSHED. She told me that she never looked at her paycheck stubs; she simply trusted that it was correct.

Poor girl worked crazy overtime to make up the difference since she needed money for her wedding. I learned a valuable lesson:look at your pay stubs!

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Specializes in Med/Surg, LTACH, LTC, Home Health.

I would go straight to the uniform shop and buy some new Greys Anatomy, a new stethoscope, pay for my certification exam, all compliments of such a joyful place to work......hey, at least I'm keeping it work-related:cheeky:

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Specializes in Transitional Nursing.
I would go straight to the uniform shop and buy some new Greys Anatomy, a new stethoscope, pay for my certification exam, all compliments of such a joyful place to work......hey, at least I'm keeping it work-related:cheeky:

They're so comfy aren't they??

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Specializes in Educator.

I once was overpaid by $23,000!!! I had to look at the ATM for several minutes before it registered! Of course I called my boss - on a Sunday - to let her know. It felt good for about 10 mins!!

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Specializes in Med/Surg, LTACH, LTC, Home Health.
They're so comfy aren't they??

Only good thing about going to work. Lol!

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Specializes in Med/Surg, LTACH, LTC, Home Health.
I once was overpaid by $23,000!!! I had to look at the ATM for several minutes before it registered! Of course I called my boss - on a Sunday - to let her know. It felt good for about 10 mins!!

Even I would draw the line with that one! Not trying to go to jail for NOBODY'S mistake....Greys Anatomy or not!:no::nailbiting:

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Specializes in ortho, hospice volunteer, psych,.

On my first job out of college, I was paid twice per month. A WHOLE $147.68 total per check! Wa-Hoo!

On my third pay, I picked up my envelope and forgot it until after work. I made out the deposit slip before I went to the bank then opened my envelope. The check was made out for $147,680 instead! I broke out in a cold sweat! keeping it never crossed my mind.

My mother was away and I called of the law partners. His instructions were NOT to deposit it in either checking or savings because legally that would be accepting the error. He said to give it to a bank officer and to let him return it to the payroll department, which would eliminate the possibility of a tampered with check.

Payroll had the corrected check ready the next day.

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I don't think its fair that some posters are implying that people who've kept trifling amounts are amoral criminals. C'mon.

I once got a five dollar bill instead of a single back from a gas station. I didn't realize until I got home. Sorry, I'm not about to drive across town to return a five dollar bill. Not going to happen.

I also once got a extra $10 from an ATM. And, nope, I didn't return it. Not even sure how one does that. It wasn't an ATM that was affiliated with any bank as far as I could tell. Was I supposed to mail it to some company? Spend 45 minutes on the phone trying to get a hold of someone to find out how to have it deducted from my account?

Life isn't a Leave it to Beaver episode. Who has time to spend a huge chunk of their day over such an irrelevant amount of money.

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Specializes in hospice.

I showed my co-workers and to my surprise many of them advised me to not say anything. In fact, only one agreed that I was doing the right thing.

I thought things like this would be a no brainer but apparently not.

I'm just curious as to what aspect of our current society made you think that basic morality would be a no-brainer.

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So, you are OK with theft from an employer? Ever think of diverting narcotics to sell? I'll bet it would be easy .

The post was a joke.. You know the song right??? It gave me a smile on a day that I REALLY needed it.

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I love that most nurses are so loyal to employers that would throw them under the bus in a hot second. I am a generally honest person but if I kept a pen or post it pad from work at my house I am not a thief AND I don't care that I have it. Would I have told payroll about the $1500? Absolutely....but only because they would have found out eventually, gone into my bank account and removed it and left me negative at some point and not cared one bit about it. And of course it would be a time when money was tight for some reason. I am very aware of who I am to my employer. No one. It's great to be honest and all but don't be fooled into thinking your place of business would automatically give you the same respect. I always have my eyes on them.

Nurses are so judgey with each other. Do oil rig workers sit around judging their colleagues for that extra $100 they kept? Doubtful. Only on a nursing forum would someone equate keeping extra money to diverting and selling controlled substances. Yeah...that's a logical conclusion to draw. Oy.

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And I find it interesting that no one really seems to realize that overpaying an emplyee is their problem. They're the ones who made a major screw up. When we screw up that royally, how do they react?

There are some good employers, but then there are those who will throw a nurse under the bus in a hot minute.

The accountability, honesty and "doing the right thing" factor should go both ways.

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