Q: We accidentally paid an employee twice during one payroll cycle. Before we realized what happened, our employee cashed both checks. Can we take the entire amount of the overpayment from our employee’s next paycheck?
Answer:
It is risky taking a deduction like this from an employee’s paycheck. A federal court case determined that such deductions are illegal under the Oregon statute. However, the Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) has stated that they will not pursue any claims an employee files when the employer is entitled to reimbursement for an overpayment of wages.
To avoid a civil case against you, the best option in this situation is to set up a payment plan for the employee to reimburse the employer outside of the payroll system.
