Tom Hollander has earned a pretty penny in films and shows like Pride and Prejudice and the recent hit White Lotus, but nothing near Spider-Man‘s Tom Holland. So when he got a seven-figure check meant for the similarly named star, he had to give it back.
This is a payroll mistake of epic proportions, and even after years in human resources, I’m not quite sure how this kind of mistake could happen. But mistakes are common. In fact, you may have made similar mistakes (but probably not at the seven-figure level). For business owners, it’s a reminder to put checks and audits in place — but also to have compassion. It can literally happen to anyone.
I asked HR experts to share their stories of payroll mistakes under the promise of anonymity. Here are 15 true stories of payroll mixups, slightly edited for grammar and clarity.
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“Back in the day, a manager made a mistake when they were correcting five days of per diem to seven days of per diem. They didn’t remove the five and added the seven. The employee was paid for 57 days of Per Diem, at $50 per day, because Payroll didn’t catch it. The employee was really [redacted] when the company made him give back all but seven days’ worth.”
To keep reading, click here: Tom Hollander Got Tom Holland’s 7-Figure Check and 15 Other True Stories of Payroll Mistakes
It happened to me. I put in for 4 hours of PTO and was paid for 444 hours. I only made $12 per hour back then, so as you can imagine that check was ridiculous! Our paystubs were hand delivered around 2pm on Payday and our direct deposit happened overnight. I reported it within the hour to payroll and the manager just laughed and laughed. They pulled the money back, and no harm was done. The manager said that it probably wouldn’t have been caught until tax forms went out the following January, if at all. That was in 2001.
For #15, their books would have balanced eventually. Uncashed checks will eventually get escheated to the state after some period of time. So the state government would have the 1 penny check held in that dad’s name which would be a whole process to get back but the company’s books will balance.