Honda Wants Factory Workers To Pay Back Overpaid Bonuses
Honda overpaid some workers hundreds of dollars. Now they might be forced to pay it back.
Honda sent a memo to employees at the Marysville, OH auto plant yesterday requesting the repayment of overpaid wages. Workers at the plant, which builds the Acura Integra, Honda Accord, Acura TLX, and Honda CR-V, will have to repay bonus payments mistakenly made by Honda.
The reasons for the error are unclear, but the overpaid wages could prove to be a hardship for employees of the plant. NBC4 spoke to workers under the condition of anonymity and a law professor to parse the legality of recouping overpaid wages. One employee owes just under eight percent of their bonus payment, apparently amounting to hundreds of dollars.
This can present a real hardship to workers who need to pay their bills. Workers are used to getting bonus payments and do not expect to pay a portion back. Times are hard for a lot of folks and the extra money can go a long way. Now, that extra money for a mortgage or a car payment needs to go back.
Honda is legally within its right to request the overpaid wages back, and there is no recourse for the workers and their wages. The mistake of overpaying employees has no penalty, and Honda is handling the situation correctly, even if it presents a challenging situation to its workers, which are non-unionized.
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, overpayments can be recouped by the employer. Honda is giving employees until September 22 to choose their method of repayment. Employees can pay upfront, deduct the amount from future paychecks, or deduct the amount from future bonuses. Honda could pursue the wages in court, but it appears that it is seeking an agreement with employees.
Either way, it looks like the workers will have to give the mistakenly paid money back to Honda, though it was no fault of theirs.
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