Notre Dame sues ex-worker over $29,000 tip

[strollingbones]

INDIANAPOLIS – A woman who worked catering events for the University of Notre Dame says it was her lucky day when the school tipped her $29,000 in her check. But now the university is suing to get back the money she says she's already spent.

Sara Gaspar of Granger says in court documents filed this week that she "thought finally something wonderful had happened" in her life when the school paid her a $29,387 tip on April 17. She said in court documents that she called the school's catering department three times about the payment, but didn't hear back until she received a threatening call from the school in June.

Gaspar says by that point, she had spent the money on a new car and bills.

Notre Dame contends Gaspar should have been paid only $29.87, but was overpaid because of a typing error. The school says in a lawsuit filed Aug. 27 in St. Joseph Circuit Court in South Bend that Gaspar did not notify the school about the error, and instead spent the money knowing it wasn't hers.

Notre Dame says it discovered the mistake in May and requested repayment, but Gaspar refused. The lawsuit accuses her of unjust enrichment, fraud and conversion.

Notre Dame sues ex-worker over $29,000 tip - Yahoo! News

i hope she can prove she called the catering department 3xs.

so how do you feel....honest mistake by employer or is it her tip to keep?

 

[bodecea]

INDIANAPOLIS – A woman who worked catering events for the University of Notre Dame says it was her lucky day when the school tipped her $29,000 in her check. But now the university is suing to get back the money she says she's already spent.

Sara Gaspar of Granger says in court documents filed this week that she "thought finally something wonderful had happened" in her life when the school paid her a $29,387 tip on April 17. She said in court documents that she called the school's catering department three times about the payment, but didn't hear back until she received a threatening call from the school in June.

Gaspar says by that point, she had spent the money on a new car and bills.

Notre Dame contends Gaspar should have been paid only $29.87, but was overpaid because of a typing error. The school says in a lawsuit filed Aug. 27 in St. Joseph Circuit Court in South Bend that Gaspar did not notify the school about the error, and instead spent the money knowing it wasn't hers.

Notre Dame says it discovered the mistake in May and requested repayment, but Gaspar refused. The lawsuit accuses her of unjust enrichment, fraud and conversion.

Notre Dame sues ex-worker over $29,000 tip - Yahoo! News

i hope she can prove she called the catering department 3xs.

so how do you feel....honest mistake by employer or is it her tip to keep?

I know with the military, the rule of thumb is if you are over paid tell them RIGHT AWAY! Because when they find out, they will take it out of your paycheck all at once, even if that leaves you with nothing.

 

[noose4]

it was an obvious mistake by Notre Dame but if somebody on the receiving end tries to remedy the mistake in good faith and hits a brick wall in doing so(calling to inform the catering department about the mistake 3 times would qualify) then the recipient should not be held liable if they touch the money in my opinion.

 

[xotoxi]

so how do you feel....honest mistake by employer or is it her tip to keep?

Hmmmm....

This one is difficult. I have to side with the girl and that she has to keep the tip...but it is a really big mistake.

Luckily, mistakes like this don't happen often and it will hopefully force the employer to double check in the future. It should have been caught...we are not talking a decimal point moved over ONE spot ($29.87 -> $298.70)...we are talking THREE POINTS ($29.87 -> $29870.00). One would think that any check issued for more than $500 or something would have to be hand signed and would be caught.

The employer eats it...judgement for the defendant.

The Court of Xotoxi is hereby dismissed.

 

[p kirkes]

ow with the military, the rule of thumb is if you are over paid tell them RIGHT AWAY! Because when they find out, they will take it out of your paycheck all at once, even if that leaves you with nothing.[/QUOTE]


^^Amen^^. I was overpaid and went to my Sergeant who contact the finance office but they couldn't do anything. Told me cash the check, don't spend it, let it draw interest (.cents) and at some point the government will come looking for it. Took six months but I was ready. LOL

 

[bodecea]

ow with the military, the rule of thumb is if you are over paid tell them RIGHT AWAY! Because when they find out, they will take it out of your paycheck all at once, even if that leaves you with nothing.

^^Amen^^. I was overpaid and went to my Sergeant who contact the finance office but they couldn't do anything. Told me cash the check, don't spend it, let it draw interest (.cents) and at some point the government will come looking for it. Took six months but I was ready. LOL[/QUOTE]


Yeah...it happened to me once and that's EXACTLY what I did...put it in my Savings account. It only took 3 months for them to catch it, but I got a few cents out of it.

 

[Lonestar_logic]

If she was an honest person she would have went in person with check in hand to return it. I doubt she called 3 times or even once.

 

[Zoom-boing]

If it seems too good to be true, it usually is. She should have known they'd come after it and not spent it.

I just got a check back from the oral surgeon for $261 for over payment from my when my daughter's wisdom teeth were yanked last April (2008). Did I over pay or is the insurance company going to come looking for it? No clue but it won't get spent. It'll just sit and collect -- well mostly dust. lol

 

[Care4all]

She should have returned it because it was a mistake and there is no way on God's green earth that she could even THINK that this sum of money was hers. She stole it....and spent it....there is no way around this, in my opinion. Yes, she is liable to pay it back. no, I don't want to see her in jail, especially if she said she called 3 times and no one returned her call...though it does not say she called 3 times, told the person what had happened....it just says she called and no one returned her calls.

She should have gone there with the check in hand, to return it. It would have made her feel so much better.

Saying she had the right to spend it is foolish... that would be like saying a bank put a million bucks in your account by mistake and YOU had the right to spend it, because it was in your account, though knowingly and wrongfully so....and call a spade a spade...what SHE DID, WAS UNETHICAL AND WRONG.

 

[Care4all]

finders, keepers
losers, weepers

...works in fairy tales and toddler-hood, perhaps