Automotive giant Honda has come under fire after it asked workers at one of its US factories to repay hundred of dollars in bonuses they received earlier this month, saying it overpaid many of the checks in error and now needs that extra money back.
The brazen reneging from the car manufacturer came on Tuesday, when staff at the Marysville Honda Motors Co. factory in Ohio – which employs thousands of workers – were sent a memo demanding they give back money from overpaid bonuses.
The amount of each overpayment is currently unclear, as it varies from person to person based on salary – but the bonuses in almost every case amount to hundreds of dollars, and were dished out to thousands of workers at the Ohio plant.
After announcing the bonuses had been erroneously overpaid in the bulletin Tuesday, brass at the Japanese automaker wrote that workers would have just nine days to decide on how they will pay back the additional sums.
Staffers will have the option to deduct the money from future paychecks or bonuses, or pay the outstanding amount up front by cash or check.
Those who abstain from those options, the company said Tuesday, will have the excess deducted from their future bonuses by default.
Workers will have until September 22 to decide how to pay back the money – a hardship for many who are used to getting bonus payments and had not expected to give a portion back.
Some staffers at the plant – one of a dozen factories in the country that collectively produce over 5 million cars annually – have lawyered up after being hit with the rebates, alleging the company is not properly going about collecting the overpayments.
Automotive giant Honda has come under fire after it asked workers at one of its US factories to repay hundred of dollars in bonuses they received earlier this month, saying it overpaid many of the checks in error and now needs that extra money back
The reneging from the car manufacturer came on Tuesday, when staff at the Marysville Honda Motors Co. factory in Central Ohio (pictured) were sent a memo demanding they give back money from overpaid bonuses. The plant currently employs thousands of workers
In a statement to DailyMail.com Sunday, brass at the popular auto retailer confirmed that they had dished out overpayments to several staffers last week, but would not specify how much those payments amounted to and how many were issued.
They added that managers are currently working to address the situation ‘to minimize any potential impact to our associates.’
‘Earlier this month Honda provided bonus payments to its associates, some of whom received overpayments,’ a Honda spokesperson conceded after being asked about the excess bonuses.
‘Issues related to compensation are a sensitive matter,’ the rep wrote in an email, adding that ‘we are working quickly on this item to minimize any potential impact to our associates.’
The spokesman added that since the matter was ‘a personnel issue,’ the company would not provide any further information related to this matter.’
The wife of one employee who received an excess bonus to the tune of several hundred of dollars told NBC4 that he owed Honda nearly 8 percent of his previously awarded bonus.
The woman spoke on condition of anonymity, out of fear he husband would be reprimanded for speaking out.
‘Not a lot of people can handle this kind of a hit,’ said the wife of a Honda employee.
‘That’s, you know, a car payment. That’s half of our mortgage,’ she said. ‘That’s two, three weeks worth of groceries. That’s a lot of money for us.’