My company over paied me. I got two deposits for different but similar
amounts. They sent out an e-mail saying it was a processing error and
that one of the deposits will be reversed. Can they legaly do this?

I'm sure they can- they know about the over payment, and you admit you
know about it, as well.

There is probably a short time limit to reverse a deposit- 2 or 3
days- but if the company misses it, they'll just ask you directly for
the money (and fire you, and take legal action to get it back, if you
refuse).

Strictly speaking once the funds are cleared in your bank a/c then no
normal entity should be able to reverse the transaction.

In effect that would be a withdrawel without your authorization.

However such things can happen - it happened to me once (in the UK)

- and another time a colleague stopped an uncleared cheque, and the
bank tried to pretend that it was not down to them - until I got on
the case, at which point they backed down.

In your case, you would be wiser to pay it back, unless it was a final
pay cheque and you want to give your ex-employers grief, in which case
be careful and offer say $100 per month - after deducting a percentage
to compensate you for adminstrative hassle.

If the bank reverses the transaction after you have evidence that it
has cleared, then go for the bank 'on a matter of principal'.

I suggest that you gather evidence, even a 'cleared funds'
mini-statement from a cash machine will do.

After all, you are just highlighting bugs in the system, not
attempting to 'permanently deprive' any one of their property :-)

Ideally you want letters from all parties involved, thanking you for
your cooperation in locating flaws in their systems.

this question and the resulting comment begs the next question, when
did morality and integrity die? a questioner is paying to find out if
he has to return money that doesn't belong to him and a responder
tells him if they take it to complain to the bank, "on a matter of
principal". what a world.

to answer your question. you don't get to keep the money. it isn't
yours. it was deposited in error and the bank will rightfully aid in
the correction. you might even find this very thing covered in all
that small print you didn't read when you signed up for direct
deposit. besides it all being on the up and up, even if it technically
bent a rule, how about giving it back on the precept that keeping it,
and you might add this phrase to your lexicon, would be wrong.

given the predispostition of the previous query and response i can
only assume that had this error been made differently you would be
equally adverse to correcting it. say for example they only credited
your account half of what you were due. is that a correctable error?
or are we still concerned with the technical legal aspects of the
correction?

suppose the payroll clerk made the error of debiting your account for
the amount due instead of depositing. that error leaving you short the
deposit you didn't get plus the money they took. they send you an
email that says not paying you and taking money from you was a
processing error but would be corrected. would you be here offering
cash to anyone who can tell you how to not accept your money back?
would you question the legality of replacing your funds and paying you
or would you hurry to the bank on principal to insist errors aren't
reversible? suppose through that very processing error they debited
your account and instead of sending an email alerting you to the error
and offering a fix, you found them here offering cash rewards to
anyone who can suggest a way to never pay you or return your money.
are you impressed with the resourcefullness of their approach or are
you more up in arms than when the error was made?

as the facts are the same in all the examples and only who is the
financial loser changes, it would seem that all the geese and all the
ganders would expect all the errors to be corrected, all the time. for
those that don't, disappointment is around the next corner.

Hey elwtee-ga

Get over yourself, it was just a question.