Employer asks for money back

[vasken]

I work in California as a manager in a small company reporting to the owner. During last merit increase I recieved a much larger raise than anyone else in the company. Everyone else recieved the same merit increase which was lower than mine. Since then the accountant has conducted an audit and has inform me I need to pay back the difference between my raise and what everyone else recieved since based on the company's financial situation I should not have gotten such an increase. Since I am the manager of the company the accoutant feels that if I had notified him about the raises he would not have authorized my merit raise. By the way the owner of the company had authorized this raise for me. Now the owner indicates he did not know how bad the company was doing. Also, six months has passed since the time of the merit raise.

 

[cbg]

I would check with the CA DOL on this one. My guess, and it's only a guess, is that you will be told that they cannot make you return the money but they can lower your salary going forward.