Merck payroll sent me a letter stating that they overpaid me by 3 days after I resigned. Should I pay Merck back? With all of the systems that don't really work, I am amazed that someone actually discovered this minor accounting error. I feel like I would be making a donation to the mini bin fund. If I pay this back, maybe they could pay a service worker to take someone's trash out for the day? Kind of like employee of the month parking reward!
The payroll system routinely makes these errors. The payroll department routinely gets the money back. There is a section of your separation agreement that says if such an error is made you will pay them back. If you choose not to pay them back expect to hear from a collection agency and have your credit dinged. Oh, and FU Merck!
DEFINITELY pay them back...this will not go away...Mother Merck does not like to get screwed back, even when it is their own incompetence that caused the problem... You will have a major headache if you don't pay them back...seriously...it is not worth it...
I do my best to pay Merck back every day. I devote about 90 minutes every morning and no more than two hours every afternoon. That's more than Merck deserves, but I'm a generous person. I also transport as much free food home as I can at every opportunity. I estimate I take the equivalent of at least $100 weekly. I also use my nice Merck vehicle to perform most every one of my daily tasks for my real job. It's in the neighborhood of 300-400 miles per week. I'd call it my second job, but I've grown to think of Merck as my second job. Thank you, Merck. I used to be a loyal Kool-Aid drinker and then I watched friend after friend get shoved out the door with no consideration for decency whatsoever. Now, I know how to play the game. I've had my new perspective a solid 3 years now. I wish I had started earlier.
Take a look at the paperwork you signed when you left. If it says nothing about situations where you are paid in excess then you owe nothing. Also, how do they know that you were overpaid? Make sure you get them to send all the data they have - the burden of proving this is on them. Its unlikely you signed anything when you left that would indicate you owe them. When I used to check out reps as a CTL there was nothing like this in the papers they signed.
I am poster #3 - I worked in the HR Service Center and can assure you they do have the payback language in the current documents and WILL send you to a collection agency. They can also produce the formula they used to arrive at the overpayment and likely will if you ask. Even if they don't (who knows how much nastier they've gotten since I left ~1 year ago) they have your sign off on the separation agreement to back them up and send you to collections.
It is so disheartening to know what Merck once was and then know what Merck is today...like night and day and Merck seems to be in a dark night existence today. It was a privilege to be a Merck employee 30-40 years ago and all Merck employees knew it and did their level best for the company because they loved getting to work for Merck and knew that Merck's decisions were always made in the patients and employees best interests. What a laugh that concept is today at most employers. Employees know this and that is why you can read volumes of negative posts on any specific company's CafePharma bulletin board. Merck is no different than any other mediocre large corp today.
Go to the press with this petty crap! I'm sure the Star-Ledger would love to see Kenny and his millions trying to get hundreds pack from a fired taxpayer!
Oh, I pay them back alright---every chance I get. I believe I worked a whopping 6 hours this week. FU MERCK
I'm pretty sure no news outlet is going to care that Merck OVERpaid someone and then wanted to get the OVERpayment back. You really would be amazed how often this happens, especially when the mass layoffs are going on. The most common reason the overpayments go out is they project your last end date and calculate on that and then your local management has the separation talk with you and let's you go on the projected date minus 3 days using the OPs example. Nothing as scandalous as most of the posts here would like to believe.
I paid them back with 8 calls today. I almost even talked to a doctor. Almost. I worked a full 9 hours...about 90 minutes of which was Merck related. Sig, sig, sig, sig, sig…. FU MERCK