Occasionally an employer will overpay an employee wages. What are an employee’s rights under such circumstances? May the employer demand that the employee repay the employer the full amount of the overpayment? New Hampshire law protects employees who find themselves the recipients of accidental overpayments from their employers.
Payment of Wages
Under RSA 275:48, I (d)(4), an employer can only recover an accidental overpayment of wages from an employee by way of a voluntary agreement that must be memorialized in writing. The statute allows the employer to recoup the overpayment not in a lump sum but instead through deductions from the employee’s paychecks. The written agreement between the employer and the employee must specify: (1) the date the recovery of the overpayment will begin and end; (2) the amount to be deducted from the employee’s paychecks to be agreed upon by the employer and the employee, which amount cannot exceed 20 percent of the employee’s gross pay in any pay period; and (3) whether the employer may deduct any amount outstanding from final wages at the termination of the employee’s employment. The deductions from the employee’s paychecks cannot begin until one (1) pay period following the date the parties execute the written agreement.
New Hampshire’s Protective Wage Law
Our office has represented employees where the employer has mistakenly overpaid wages and then demands repayment of thousands of dollars in a lump sum. We have successfully protected these employees from this employer overreach by demonstrating a violation of New Hampshire’s wage claim protections
If you have a wage issue with your employer, you should contact an experienced employee rights attorney such as Benjamin T. King at Douglas, Leonard & Garvey, P.C. Attorney King has been ranked in the top 5 % of attorneys in New England representing employees in employment discrimination cases, continuously since 2014. Attorney King can be reached at (603) 288-1403 or fill out our online contact form.