Originally posted on r/WorkReform at https://www.reddit.com/r/WorkReform/comments/zklek1/advice_plz_employer_exploited_family_overpaid/
A family member of mine worked a miserable job earlier this year with a shit ton of unpaid overtime. This was an exhausting and exploitative workplace that burnt a lot of other employees out too. She needed about a month after her last day just to recover before looking for a new job. Anyways, it turns out this place must have been burning out their payroll admins, because they accidentally sent her five additional paycheques. She was able to confirm this from looking at her bank balances, but didn't notice at the time because she was busy with other stuff. (The total amount she was overpaid is well under 3,000 CAD.)
Anyways, a few weeks ago they started bugging her with emails and phone calls. Is it ideal to just ghost 'em? What are her options?
Other factors:
- Family member is a PR here in Canada, wants to become a citizen, doesn't want any black marks on the record.
- Results of her research: This blog post indicates that they would have to go to the Civil Resolution Tribunal to get the money back, which seems concordant with these pages from Public Services and Procurement Canada along with the BC government. I don't know how relevant this all is.
- No guilt whatsoever. If they'd treated her like a human being, she'd be willing to play ball. They didn't.