Help! PTO and my company is fucking me

I’ll try to keep this brief.

Order of events:

1. I was given 50 hours of PTO in July for being full time.
2. I requested to use 24 of it.
3. My PTO disappeared 2 days later.
4. I was surprised that I had PTO as I was pretty sure I would not qualify for it, but was glad to have received some. I asked what happened to it, and was told it was a clerical error.
5. My request still remained on the system. No one denied it. I was not instructed to remove it and get clarification from HR.
6. My assistant manager, unbeknownst to me, approved it.
7. I was paid for it. I don’t check the exact breakdown. I checked to confirm with my boss.

I know they can ask for the money back, but what are my options here? To me, that was money I needed and was counting on. I did nothing wrong, my managers dropped the ball, and now if I’m forced to pay ig back, I’ll suffer financially. Do I have any legal recourse to fight any recoupment efforts?

Thanks in advance,

Sincerely, a severely stressed out victim of capitalism (I think that applies to us all).