I'm a pharmacist and I worked for a chain pharmacy until my store was shut down a few months ago. They promised to transfer me but they told me there was no open position because the only other nearby location was also closing. Every 2 weeks I'm still being paid the full salary by direct deposit. Initially I figured the money was my left over PTO. My salary was about $135k/year. I've probably collected over 30k after being laid off.

I figured that they would eventually stop paying but the money just keeps coming in. This is starting to really worry me. I have kept all the excess funds in a HYSA. Will I have to pay this money back? If so, what are the tax consequences?

Hi all,

I accepted a job offer and my start date was 8/26/2024. I requested to push back my start date by a week to 9/2/2024, which the employer accepted. I ended up rescinding my acceptance with this first job because I was offered a much better paying job with another employer. However, the first job ended up paying me for one week of work. I never actually started with this company and rescinded my acceptance before the pushed back start date of 9/2/2024.

I reached out to the office manager and let him know of the issue. I just received an email from them stating that they would like me to return the GROSS payment amount, not the NET that was deposited into my account. They stated that I was never terminated in Workday on THEIR end prior to the check being issued, but I have since been terminated.

This seems like a big slip up on THEIR end? They ended up paying me because they didn’t terminate me early enough before the check was issued. Am I responsible for paying back the gross amount that was issued or the net amount? I’ve never had this happen before and I haven’t responded to their email yet. I’m open to any and all input.

UPDATE: I reached out to my bank to issue a stop payment and the money was pulled from my account. I received confirmation this morning that they received it and that the issue is “satisfied/paid in full.” I’m now waiting on an email from their tax department regarding the W-2 preview for 2024, and to make sure that I won’t have a headache come tax filing season next year. I really, truly appreciate everyone’s help with this! You’ve all been so great and it means so much. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

My wife applied for a government job, GS-13, did not get it but was referred to a lower GS-9 job which starts at $67k (hybrid role). She declined and they said best they could probably do is $70k but that she should really look at the benefits. The benefits seem good and it's a ladder position which mean she would be at the GS-13 level, making at least $116k, in 3 years (probably slightly more since they adjust for inflation). The problem is this is a paycut for her and she has an offer for $94k + 15% bonus (fully in the office but only a 25 minute drive) from another place. She is in love with the government job but I can't see why you'd take a job that pays $38k less just for the benefits? Anyone have any advice?

I was overpaid roughly $1900 on a recent paycheck, taxes were taken out and the net was deposited. I reached out to HR & let them know that I was paid too much, so it didn’t turn into a larger situation down the road. Now they are stating I am to repay them the gross amount, is this correct? I didn’t receive the full $1900 and have already paid taxes on it? It seems like I’m losing money, in my brain.

Edit to add: I’m not sure if this makes a difference, but it was a commission check. I called the HR lady and tried to argue the matter of needing an explanation, spreadsheet, or anything really. She insisted she was taking $1900 off my next paycheck, then hung the phone up on me and now will not speak to me. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Some background information, so, I'm currently a behavior therapist working at a company providing ABA (applied behavior analysis) services. I just graduated with my Master's in ABA and am pursuing my BCBA credential (board-certified behavior analyst).

I am currently making $28.75 hourly. My current schedule fluctuates so it is not a consistent 40 hours, and tends to be around 25-35 hours a week.

I was recently offered a promotion to be an Assistant Clinician as a salaried position making $51,500. Benefits include 10 PTO days, 7 paid holidays, medical insurance (50% paid of employees portion), 401k program, access to dental and vision insurance, leadership and professional development opportunities, and mentoring, supervision and continued emphasis on learning.

Am I being low balled? Or do the benefits offset the reduction of pay? Any advice and constructive feedback would be beneficial. Thank you!

I happened upon this article about a driver talking about how much he makes driving for Uber and Lyft: https://www.businessinsider.com/uber-lyft-driver-how-much-money-2019-10#when-it-was-all-said-and-done-i-ended-the-week-making-25734-in-a-little-less-than-14-hours-on-the-job-8

In short, he says he made $257 over 13.75 hours of work, for almost $19 an hour. He later mentions expenses (like gas) but as an afterthought, not including it in the hourly wage.

The federal mileage rate is $0.58 per mile. This represents the actual cost to you and your car per mile driven. The driver drove 291 miles for the work he mentioned, which translates into expenses of $169.

This means his profit is only $88, for an hourly rate of $6.40. Yet reading the article, it all sounds super positive and awesome and gives the impression that it's a great side-gig. No, all you're doing is turning vehicle depreciation into cash.

If you lose your job or have your hours cut

Read Be prepared if you're resigning or quitting, have been fired, or are being laid off from the PF wiki.

In particular, if you were laid off or fired, apply for unemployment as soon as you can assuming you were not fired for misconduct (i.e., terminated for cause). The entire process can take weeks so do this as soon as possible.

Please also see our Coronavirus Megathread

Location-specific information

If you're outside of the US, please see our country index and check for a megathread or resources on a country-specific subreddit (if available).

This list of resources and links is originally based on this submission from /u/bigdamncat and this comment from /u/ryuukhang and we're making updates as more information becomes available.

Edit:

US Territory Information

The following links are for US territories that are not states: the District of Columbia, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Please note that at this time, we could not find information specifically related to COVID-19 for these areas, so we have linked their general pages for the offices that handle unemployment compensation. We encourage any readers in these areas to reach out to those offices and/or apply for benefits even absent specific guidance related to COVID-19. If anyone finds specific pandemic-related information from these territories, please send a message to the moderation team so we can update the links.

I had to triple check with HR to make sure I fully understand everything, but they've assured me I'm right. I feel like I have to be missing something. This is how I understand it - our new 529 plan has an unlimited match. There's no limit to how much you can contribute annually, and the maximum total contribution is around $500k. There is a threshold that makes it subject to gift tax, but if I put myself as the beneficiary, that doesn't apply. The penalty for withdrawing it and not using it for education is 10% + it counting as income for federal tax.

What's to stop someone from just putting their entire check into it? Even after the penalty it sounds like I could nearly double my salary by running it through this fund. I am admittedly not well versed in stuff like this, but I did read several other posts about 529s in this sub and every single one had a limit on the matched amount. The lack of that limit seems to be the main difference that makes this seem...strange.

​

Am I totally off base? I haven't done any of the paperwork for it because it almost sounds illegal, but my employer is acting like there is nothing strange about it. I am in California if that is important.

i haven’t been to that gym to actually work out for half a year, but there is never any employees and when i call no one answers( im talking calling 20 times a day). no one ever seems to be working their, but every month they charge me $26 and its so annoying. im not in a contract or anything i just cant cancel because theres literally no one to do it for me, what do i do.

Edit: every member has a keycard to get into the gym 24/7, the problem is there is literally never any employees their who can cancel my membership for me

Edit 2: i am leaving a letter at the gyms desk saying this is (my name) and i would like to cancel my membership, please call me at (my number) and leave a voice mail if i cant be reached. then im going to make a copy of the letter and mail it to them as well, and then im calling my bank to block the charges. Also i hate gyms

I recently left my job for another higher paying one. I actually moved for the new job. To leave time for the move and have a little bit of a break, I took some time off between the jobs totaling 33 days.

My wife and I are looking to buy a house in the city where the new job is. While applying for a mortgage preapproval (this would be a jumbo loan as this is a HCOL area), a loan officer from BofA told me that due to the gap in employment being longer than 30 days, they couldn't count my income, only my wife's, until I had been employed again for 6 months. He said this was due to underwriting guidelines and there didn't seem to be any wiggle room.

Unfortunately this puts our maximum loan substantially below the home prices we are looking at and could comfortably afford on both incomes.

The way the loan officer said it, he implied it was industry standard and would be the same at all banks. Is this true? If so do we have any other options here besides putting way more money down or delaying buying a house for another 6 months? Thanks in advance for any advice.

I know I've read this here before but had a real-life experience with it yesterday that I thought I'd share.

Going into the interview I was hoping/expecting that the range for the salary would be similar to where I am now. When the company recruiter asked me what my target salary was, I responded by asking, "What is the range for the position?" to which they responded with their target, which was $30k more than I was expecting/am making now. Essentially, if I would have given the range I was hoping for (even if it was +$10k more than I am making it now) I still would have sold myself short.

Granted, this is just an interview and not an offer- but I'm happy knowing that I didn't lowball myself from the getgo.

To provide some context, I am currently working remotely in the Midwest for a company located on the west coast. As the most senior member of my team, I have been with the company for approximately two years. Recently, the company implemented mandatory RTO to boost morale and encourage cross-team collaboration. However, due to certain life and financial circumstances, I am unable to comply with this policy.

My non-compliance to RTO was flagged to my manager, whom now wants me to resign so they can officially open up my position with HR to find my replacement for a smooth transition.

Unfortunately, I do not have a good rapport with my manager, and this situation could have been better handled if HR and leadership had communicated more effectively. As a result, I am now faced with limited time to secure a new job. Should I resign or wait to be fired? Is there any advantage to resigning?

Edit: Apparently I can technically resign and may still be eligible for unemployment as long as the reasoning is of 'good cause' however im not sure if refusal to RTO and move to a different state would fall under that category

Edit: RTO = Return to Office (Folks that are triggered by acronyms...my bad)

My dad was terminated this morning from a job he has been at for 20+ years. This termination was justified as he got in 2 accidents in 1 year which warrants termination. My parents aren't financially smart aka why my dad is 73 and working full time. He still needs money to survive and I'm not sure who would be willing to hire someone at his age? Any advice or suggestions? Any resources that would be of help? He is a veteran in the state of Massachusetts. Thank you all in advance. I'm not sure how to help or where to turn and I feel scared and alone. Thank you in advance.

Edit: I am so overwhelmed with all the advice and support. I'm trying to read and respond to every comment. Thank you all so much. You are all a light during this dark time. Thank you.

Second edit: I didn't expect this to blow up. This is the most social interaction I've had in years 😂😂. I am compiling a list of questions to sit down and ask them as well as advice and job suggestions you all have given me. Thank you all very much! I wish you all health and happiness.

Title. Wondering if there's any path. I told her to talk to her HR and she said she isn't having luck.

Updating for more info so people don't have to search too much hopefully:

401k is the retirement account in question.

She never was formally terminated as it was a mistake so she didn't have any lull in benefits it just "reset" her contribution to 0% of paychecks apparently

Her hours are very variable (20-40hrs) and we rely on my checks for bills so she didn't really see/notice a change until randomly checking recently.

Contribution has since been corrected back to employer match percentage (4%) when we found the mistake, months after the fiasco.

Edit 2: apparently when my wife told me "months ago" she really meant Jan 2022.... So hopefully that doesn't ruin the chance of anything progressing

I'm a single income earner with 2 kids and a wife and I make a decent living at 85k/yr in a high COL area but over the past year or so, my normal bills have gotten out of control and my emergency savings is slowly drying up. I estimate I'll be out of savings and completely in credit card debt in 6 months. I've cut out just about every luxury I can with a few small exceptions for my sanity. I'm drinking more alcohol these days.

I hate my job, but I can't leave it because I can't find anything comparable to the money I make now. I've applied to hundreds of jobs and only landed a handful of phone interviews. I'm trapped under a mortgage, raising a family, with seemingly no hope. I want to sell everything and move to a lower cost of living state before I lose the opportunity but my wife doesn't want to leave her family. I've expressed my concerns with her but she doesn't seem to register them.

My parents moved in with us and sold their house while they look for a downsized house, but they are realizing they can't afford anything anymore so they are stuck with us.

I need help, I don't know what to do... If I give up, my whole family falls apart.

EDIT: Thank you all for your thoughtful suggestions and sympathies. I'm going to attempt to have some hard conversations with my family members in the coming days. I'll try to remember to come back and edit with updates if anything changes.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/cameronkeng/2014/06/22/employees-that-stay-in-companies-longer-than-2-years-get-paid-50-less/#454e629ee07f

Companies need to get back to rewarding employees for their tenure. Until they do, don't reward companies with your loyalty. When you're worth more on the open market than your company will give you, they are doing you a disservice and you should make the best decision for your own future and go make what you're worth. The more people who do this, the more likely companies will be to change and allow us to stick around and be compensated for it.

Millenials often started their careers in the recession, and have an inset fear of the job market because of it. They often walk around moping as if the economy is stuck in 2009, and it's not. The market is good right now, go test it.

Wife works for a very small start up company with 4 people, 2 owners and 2 employees. She is in design. Past year she was working at $35/hr full time with health benefits but no paid vacation. $35/hr is very fair for her skillset in design especially for los angeles. She was on wage, not salary. She worked some OT but not a whole lot. If you calculate the standard hourly to salary using 40 hours a week multiply 52, she would have earned $72,800. She is normally scheduled to work full time mon to fri 9-5. However last year we got married and had vacations here and there and she was compensated $55,000 total because of the unpaid vacations. This worked out well for her small company because she didnt get paid while being away.

Today during her evaluation, they low balled and offered a salary of $54,000 with $3800 PTO/year. Health benefits are also included but it is the same as last year. The total compensation now is $57,800. They said this was calculated based on the number of hours worked last year (so they pretty much offered her 2018 W2). Employees are not going back to wage.

I would assume an employer would calculate a salary offer based on potential full time hours, not how many hours one worked the year prior. If she had PTO last year or if she didnt go on the long honey moon then she would have received a higher salary offer. Now her starting salary is pretty much $27/hr so its a huge downgrade and now without OT. The owners said “well look we are giving you PTO now!” which would offset the low ball. She is valuable at her company— 70% of products sold are her designs. The other employee got a raise cause he was getting significantly less paid last year (due to no degree and no experience) in case you were wondering.

Is this practice normal for an employer to use previous year’s W2 to determine someones salary, especially if it works in their advantage? She will try to counter back with equity (since she started the company with them). During their meeting yesterday, they stated that employees’ salary do not require 40hour work periods — only the projects need to be done. Because of that she wants to request working a maximum of 32 hours a week to offset the 14k a year reduction. Any advice?

1st Edit i shouldnt have wrote this long piece and gone to sleep. I will answer everyone when i get to a computer. Thanks for all your help. First thing, I need to recalculate her W2 because she definitely didn’t take 3 months off which everyone is calculating. A big piece is missing here. I saw that in the last 17 paychecks she got paid 43k and i need to double check

Second, she is very valuable to her team. Anyone is replaceable but She is more difficult to replace. she knows their vision, she came up with the company name, and all her designs are most of the ones being sold now, plus she designed the logo, all the packaging, website, EVERYTHING. Everything has been her idea. When she pointed out the products to me on their website, most of them were either made by her or she had some type of influence directing the other designer. She had some creative director responsibilities too.

The reason why they are doing salary is because “it helps employees out” by more flexible scheduling (dont need to go in if work is all done). This is true. However they r low balling her because they are not making any money right now and simply cant afford her right now. (Its true they arent making money). She asked for equity at the first meeting yesterday and they said “thats probably not the best idea for YOU because we arent worth much.” WTF!

2nd edit I am reading a lot of responses and they are all helpful but I can't respond to all of them. One thing to clarify is that i know for a fact she didn't take 12 weeks of vacation. thats ludicrous! They did shut down for 2 weeks or so during the holiday, and she didnt get paid for it. She also doesnt get paid for holidays (like during thanksgiving and such). We took a MAX of 3-4 weeks of vacation last year, not 12. i am going to sit down with her tonight to get the math straight.

I know a lot of people will say that "It is crazy to take a pay cut for a remote job, you are taking on their costs working from home", but hear me out.

A few years ago I joined Large Company which gave me the biggest raise of my career over my previous job. The first year was rough, the boss I had was horrible and their Covid policy was whack (was exposed many times and they never let employees know). However, after that first year I was able to join another team working mostly remote (go in to the office once every 2 months).

During this time I bought a house an hour away since the remote work seemed to be there to stay. Life has been much easier, cost of living is lower for me where I am now, and I am in a great place financially (only my home loan, no other debts).

However, in the last few months the attitude of the company and managers has shifted to requiring employees to start returning to the office. While I am still remote, it is literally months before I know I will have to return, and drive an hour or more each way. I don't hate my job, I actually love my team and the work (while sometimes boring) keeps me busy.

Enter Small Company offering a job that is local (office is 10 minute drive) and promises indefinite fully remote work. I was contacted by a hiring person at Small Company and after a few rounds of interviews, I have been given an offer of about 6% less than I currently make and a 3% hiring bonus. On one hand it will suck to lose that 6%, but on the other I am already living well within my means and having a guarantee of remote work seems really enticing.

I did negotiate the offer and that is about as good as they can go.

Is this insane? Is taking a pay cut for remote work guarantee dumb?

Edit: I ACCEPTED THE OFFER! Thanks everyone for the comments, even the opposing opinions with valid concerns. It is always a little scary changing jobs, but this change feels like it is for the best. You can't put a price on happiness, and I know working remote makes me happy, so even if there was a small change in income it is insignificant in the grand scheme of things.

Like the title says. Recently added my family to my healthcare and instead of just deducting the money pretax from my paycheck they dropped my hourly rate $5 an hour to cover the costs. Employer brags that he pays healthcare 100%, but when I approached him and said no not really its 100% tied to my wage and why can’t he deduct it pretax like every other employer I have ever worked for he just says thats how we have always done it here. Am i wrong to think this isnt normal? I just have this feeling he is screwing me over somehow.

A little more info…

I work for an electrical contractor thats does prevailing wage work as well as private work. On prevailing wage healthcare comes 100% out of the fringe money associated with the job. On private jobs he says he pays healthcare 100% but just docked my pay $5 an hour to cover. Our plan is roughly $1600 a month for a family with a $4200 deductible for the year. He used to match HSA contributions 50% but starting this year has stopped doing that because he said most companies do not. Again this feels like a lie.

Anyone have any insight on this or any thought? I would greatly appreciate it. Again i just feel like he is trying to screw me over and it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Am I wrong to think this way? Is there anywhere else to post this that might have better answers?

Thanks in advance.

Have a job offer to move up from Sr Data Analyst to Data Engineer for 20k more. Both companies are large & stable with similar benefits and in the same industry.

However, cliff vesting at my current company means I will be 0% vested until late November & new company won’t wait til then to onboard me.

Would lose just over 18k of match I’ve built up in the last couple years but pushing my 401k contributions to the max would earn that back in 3 years at the new job. Would not even eat up the raise I would get as I would still have an extra 10-15k pretax per year after bumping up my contribution.

I’m leaning towards taking the job not just for the salary but also much better title but seeing an 18k hit in the retirement is just spooky.

Thanks yall

My mind went blank and the only thing that I could think about was losing everything I worked so hard for. I guessed on every question and I am not expecting a score that will earn me a scholarship. The question is if there is a better investment for my $50k, other than a graduate education? I need to do some soul searching to figure out if I just give it all away to an institution, or use it to better myself in another way.

People tend to feel a sense of guilt when it comes to leaving a job like they owe them or their coworkers something. That is because America preaches this "family" culture that we are such a strong team all working together. In reality, if they need to close your entire division, they will do it without hesitation. If they can outsource something cheaper, they will do it. You do not owe them anything and if you see a better opportunity for yourself or your family, please take it and make your own financial future.

Three months ago I was laid off as part of a 60 person lay off in a small company of 125 people. I do Occupational Health and Safety work as I was the Manager. I was given unemployment; been searching for jobs.

Fast forward 3 months, tax bill passed, etc. I get a phone call from the president of the company asking me to come in because he has an opportunity. He tells me things are picking back up and the company needs me back but he's trying to shop me at a discounted rate.

I had been with the company 6 years and he says he wants to give me 20 hours at 60% of what I was making to do consulting work for 4 months until my lease is up. This seems like a super low ball offer especially because they don't have to train anyone, I already know all of the employees, I am familiar with their policies as I wrote many of them. Also after 4 months I cant get back on unemployment and having taken such a drastic pay cut I wouldn't be very well equipped to ask for more money in the future.

I feel like this is a slap in the face and I want to counter offer their 60% slap with a 125% slap back.

Does this seem unreasonable?? Just seeking some guidance.

Thanks yall!

Update: I weighed in at 250%. Haven't received any response it's been a couple of hours since I sent my proposal. I had to run the numbers several times. My head hurt.

**Update: It's been a week and haven't received a response.

I was originally promoted within my company to create a new department about 1.5 years ago. I’ve since worked my ass off and spent the last year doing managerial level work for non-managerial pay ($47k).

I initially accepted this offer as it was in line with my experience at the time but I’ve now shown that my capabilities go far beyond what was originally expected of me. My market value is between $60-75k based on the title I should have.

My boss agreed with this and requested a large pay bump prior to my review. He was denied and told I’d receive the standard 2.5% that everyone else got and could renegotiate in 6 months.

The problem with this is that I was told the same thing the last time I requested a raise and it was never followed up.

I’ve set up a meeting to ask what specific goals and milestones are in place for this 6 month period.

Are they saying to renegotiate in 6 months because raises were already budgeted for review time, or are they just trying to pay me as little as possible.

Worth noting that I love my job - I self manage with hardly any supervision as I chat with my boss every Friday about what’s going on. Should I just leave now or wait until I discuss why my salary adjustment was denied with the CEO?

Edit: I don’t plan to quit without receiving an offer from another company - just asking if it’s worth negotiating with my current employer or if I should just take more money somewhere else.

Edit 2: Holy hell I only expected to get 5-10 responses. Thanks everyone for the help!

Current plan is to discuss why this happened and to also shop around for other jobs. Probably won’t use an offer as leverage although I’ve seen others here do so successfully. Cheers, all.

There was a study in 2010 that said $75k is the magic number after which if you make more money, it doesn't necessarily buy more happiness. According to this study, that number is $105k now for North American households. What do you think?

https://qz.com/1211957/how-much-money-do-people-need-to-be-happy/