An old employer sold their company and the new ownership fired everyone, but I managed to get a pretty decent severance package, which I believed to be complete as of 12/31.  Today I got paid an extra installment, by my calculations.  Called up the C_O/President, he notifies the CEO, and says "CEO says it's right, keep the money."

I say: "CEO is wrong, where do I send the check?"

President says: "Screw them, keep it."

Sooooooo......their HR (if they have any - I think they fired HR) are idiots, so they will likely never go back and check again.  How long before I can spend it?

30 seconds flat !

in before the auto debit of the over payment ..


edit  how much we talking  here?
a few 9mm rounds  or a case  of m855 ?  

It's a trap.  
As soon as you spend it, you're screwed.

I'd wait a few months and spend as I please

For me, it's the McChicken. The best fast food sandwich. I even ask for extra McChicken sauce packets and the staff is so friendly and more than willing to oblige.

One time I asked for McChicken sauce packets and they gave me three. I said, "Wow, three for free!" and the nice friendly McDonald's worker laughed and said, "I'm going to call you 3-for-free!".

Now the staff greets me with "hey it's 3-for-free!" and ALWAYS give me three packets. It's such a fun and cool atmosphere at my local McDonald's restaurant, I go there at least 3 times a week for lunch and a large iced coffee with milk instead of cream, 1-2 times for breakfast on the weekend, and maybe once for dinner when I'm in a rush but want a great meal that is affordable, fast, and can match my daily nutritional needs.

I even dip my fries in McChicken sauce, it's delicious! What a great restaurant.

move to another account and tell bank they aren't allowed to access your account. (I'm not a banker and have no idea how it works)

Yep

Possible, but there is no audit process to catch this kind of error, the HR system did what it was told to do correctly.

*prints email*
*buys ammo*

How much is a pallet of m855?  Closer to that

Did you notify the current or former President? Did he talk to the current or former CEO?

If the conversation was with the current management, you're probably good to go.

Otherwise, contact the current management and resolve from there.

For those saying, spend it or transfer it, keeping a mistaken payment is theft under the law regardless of if it's caught or not.

OP is doing the right thing by trying to figure out if he was paid correctly or if he needs to send the overage back.

Iunderstoodthatreference.jpg

Who actually cut you the check?

If it's a payroll provider, they will most likely catch it in 1-6 months and claw it back directly from your account with no notice.

ETA: Check from ADP, Paychex, Trinet, etc.

All current staff.  They just read the contract differently than I do.

In my experience, it is yours

It could be that there payout schedule runs 1 or 2 weeks in arrears, which is normal for a lot of company payrolls. Sit tight with the funds and see if you get another payment at what would be the next normal interval. Then wait 90 days, and after that, spend it however you like.

Get it in an email of said company rep saying it was correct.   Save email.

RFN, being as how OP asked and was told to keep it. Is that conversation recorded by chance? Anyways, maybe OP will get another check or few out of the deal ...

Barrel Of 55 gr

You may be forgetting accrued vacation or other paid time off that is due in addition to severance.

You called them.

Have them put it in writing.

That is some serious bullshit and would not stand. Ain't nobody got any 'right' to withdraw from another persons account, even if they deposited into it by mistake...

Then you're probably good. Keep a copy of the email, or at least document the phone call with the president, in case of a dispute in the future. But if the bosses said it's your money, enjoy.

Texts, yes

If they told you it was right, then it was right. Maybe they decided to pay you extra to shut up. Now shut up before they change their mind

What I was thinking as well.

So here is the deal: Electrons that flow through a conductor in an AC system alternate back & forth at a rate that is based on the frequency. This is measured in amperes, or amps. An amp is equal to 6.28x10 to the 18th electrons flowing past a given point per second. Think about that. That is a metric fuckton of little negatively charged jobbers being transferred from valence ring to valence ring of the atoms within the conductor.

As a result, work is done based upon the design of the load but heat is also created within the conductor. This is due to friction. As an example, do the Mr Miaggi wax on wax off hand rub thing. The more vigorous you wax it off the hotter your hands get. So from this we can see a limitation of any conductor is heat. The more electrons flowing the larger the conductor needs to be. A 12 gauge copper conductor can, per the NEC code book, can have no more than 25 (I think) amps flow through it. However, it is only allowed to be protected by a maximum 20A OCPD (overcurrent protective device) but that is a different discussion.

A 500kcmil (kilo-or thousand- circular mil) conductor can have up to 380A flow through it per the NEC. This is all based on the 75degree Celsius scale in table 310.15(B)(16). This table was formerly 310.16 up through the 2008 NEC & was changed in the 2011 edition. Reason being is that tables in the NEC are numbered based on the section that refers you to said table. There never was a Section 310.16. But back to the amperage thing...

So, this 75degree scale is what I personally always use, as opposed to the 90degree scale, because damn near all lugs on a breaker are rated for 60/75degrees but not 90. You see, any circuit rating is only as strong as its weakest link. If a conductor is sized based on the 90 scale but the lug isn't, than the lug will potentially get hotter than it is rated for and fail. Now some of you are saying that there are lugs rated for 90degrees and you would be correct but many circuit breakers are not made with these lugs. Always check the temp rating of your termination lugs. Look for a marking like 'AL9CU' or 'CU9AL. The letters mean that it is rated for both copper & aluminum while the 9 means that it is 90degree rated. If the '9' was a '7' than it is only rated for 75degrees.

Okay, where was I...oh yeah ---> amperage flows from the source, through the load, & than back to the source. Amperage, or current, should NOT flow within the grounding system. All of the green wires in the system are there for safety. There are different names for different parts of a grounding system based on where it is within the system. The part that makes the physical connection to the earth is the grounding electrode. 250.52 allows for the following types of electrodes: rod, pipe, plate, ring, concrete encased (commonly called a ufer, named after some guy named Ufer because he founded the use of this type of electrode), steel structure of a building, underground metal water pipe, and probably a couple more that I can't remember right now. There are restrictions to material type, install method/rules and such but I ain't going there right now.

The conductor that connects this electrode to your panel/switchgear is the grounding electrode conductor. This is sized based on the equivalent size of the service entrance conductors and isn't required to be larger than 3/0 ( that's 3-ought or 000). You see, on the American Wire Gauge scale the larger numbers are smaller wires and as the wire gets bigger it's AWG number gets smaller. Example being numbers going as such:12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0(1/0 or 1-ought), 2/0, 3/0, and finally 4/0. From here, the size is simply the circular mills of the conductor starting with a 250kcmil, 300, 350, 400, 500, 600, 750 and so on up to 2000. 750 is a big bitch, I couldn't imagine pulling 2000's!!! Who of you still call a 500 like this---> 500MCM? This is old terminology that means the same thing as kcmil. The first M is the Roman numeral for 1,000 just like k is the metric prefix. The CM than means circular mils.

What is this unit of circular mils that I speak of? It is an area measurement specific to conductor sizing. A mil is a linear measurement equal to one/thousandth of an inch. A circular mil is mils times mils. This formula is not like the area of a circle measurement which is (pi)(r)(squared). Why does the area of s conductor differ from the area of a circle you ask? I ain't sure except to probably get to a much more specific number for it value. A 12awg is 6530 mils, a 10awg is 10,380 mils & I don't remember any others right now. We can talk raceway fill (based on area) and box fill (based on volume) but that's a whole different discussion so back to grounding.

The conductor that connects the grounding conductor to the grounded conductor at the service is the main bonding jumper (system bonding jumper at a seperately derived system such as a transformer). This can be a wire, bus bar, or screw depending. I'm sure you are wondering what this 'grounded' conductor is that I spoke of? This is the system conductor that is intentionally grounded & is commonly called the neutral. It isn't always a neutral and could be a corner of a corner grounded delta but... This neutral is identified by white or gray insulation or black insulation with white or gray tale at its termination points. The neutral IS a normally current-carrying conductor. In your house on a 120v ckt the black, ungrounded 'hot' wire is where the current starts to flow through the circuit conductor toward the load. The neutral is the return path for this current back to the panel to the neutral bus, through the grounded service entrance conductor and finally back to the source or transformer winding(s).

The grounding conductor is the conductor that is continuously performing the grounding, or making the connection to, the metal non-current carrying parts n pieces of all the things. There should NOT be any current flowing on this conductor. This is the green, or bare conductor. What is the purpose of this grounding conductor? It's three fold actually: to put all non-current carrying metal parts at the same potential as the earth (remember the grounding electrode, grounding electrode conductor and main bonding jumper), to perform bonding duties & to be able to safely carry ground fault current to help facilitate the operation of the OCPD. Ground faults are typically high current faults that can be 1,000's of times higher than normal current values. During a ground-fault LARGE amounts of current flow from the source, through the circuit breaker, through the grounding system and back to the source. This is why the secondary windings of a transformer are grounded & why the main bonding jumper is what it is. The main bonding jumper provides a path for this fault current to flow back to the transformer. The circuit breaker says OH SHIT THIS IS WAY TO MUCH CURRENT!!!!! I NEED TO OPEN MYSELF UP!!!! Hopefully it does, as opposed to blowing the fuck up. You see, any OCPD has a rating called its AIC (amps interrupting current). This is the amount that an OCPD can safely have flow through it before it blows the fuck up.

Gear has an SCCR rating (shirt-circuit current rating). Kinda the same but more specific to the bussing in the gear. The higher the rating the more, stronger the bracing for the bussing. I mentioned that heat is created when current flow but one more thing happens. A magnetic field is created when current flows. Copper is non-ferrous (can't be permanently magnetized) but can become an electro magnet. Basically to magnetize a material you need to align many many of the atoms within it. During current flow some of the atoms, specifically electrons, all flow the same direction and work together so that their individual magnetic fields add to each other. The higher the current, the stronger the magnetic field. High faults can easily cause wires to slap around in conduits or for bus bars to be physically attracted to each other (bent like a motherfucker) until they possibly touch each other and blow the fuck up!!! KA-FUCKING BOOM!!!!

I can get deeper into this, explain how transformers and motors work, what voltage, resistance & power are, how to bend conduit in every way, and a bunch of other shit but I need to stop typing so I can get back to chugging my Keystone Lights.

TL:DR OP doesn't understand electricity...

It was by text..."called" sorry didnt want to sound like a millennial

Money, contracts, and other transactions do not get phone calls. They get emails that can be saved and shown in court.

FIFY

2 chicks at the same time. I've always wanted to try that. Chicks dig dudes with money.

This needs to be from whoever actually issued the check.

The company may not be the source and may not have the ability to allow the overpayment to stand.

Right now someone's books are in arrears, the outcome depends on whose they are.

...

This is the issue, the last check was supposed to be on 12/31, but they interpreted it as being paid regularly through 12/31, which results in one additional check.

Change your banking to a new account and move on

Those are legal & binding, no? Serious question, I don’t know.

Regardless, agreed with others that are saying OP did the right thing by inquiring...

They told him to keep it, that's not theft.

Keep a copy of the original unmodified email so that if it is ever called into question, the headers will show where to came from and that it was legit.

1. Withdraw money at bank and place in seperate savings acct.
2. Close accounts the business has ever had access to electronically.
3. Wait 30-90 days.
4. Hookers and Blow

Open a new account and deposit funds. Leave them there. If they ask for it back, keep the interest. If they don’t, I’d assume you’re fine to spend it by the end of the fiscal year.

This should have been the first post. Get it in writing.

This is the correct answer!!

You did the right thing and reported it.  They said keep it.  

There you go.  

Maybe wait a couple months like other guys said then go hawg wild

Several cases

Yup. In addition, DOCUMENT who you spoke with and when. Each time. Date, time, first name, last name, and title. DOCUMENT what was discussed and the directions you received.

I'd probably want to get it in writing from the president telling you to keep it.

If not I'd set it aside for 6 months.

That is the exact reason I have a deposit account that is not to tied to my other account and as soon as the money is deposited  it is transferred.

You were told to KEEP IT. So Keep it. I would not wait a few months as posted earlier as accounting will notice when reconciling check ledgers and might get someone looking into it at that point.

No offense OP but what the hell is wrong with you

You have it documented that they said its your money, keep it.  Stop trying to return it.  You did wat you felt was right and you contacted them, obviously they want you to have the money, they even said so.

Go out and enjoy your new cash.

Document everything.

I wouldn’t spend it yet.