My boss has been overpaying me – and is now asking for the money back.

Location: NYC

I work for a non-profit, part-time, in New York. I’m in the office 3 days a week. Currently trying to find another part-time job to supplement the income, but I do freelance work as frequently as possible and I rely on my partner a lot, who makes more money than I do – you know how it is in the city. For work, I have direct deposit set up, so I don’t usually sit down and do the math or check paystubs.

Yesterday, my supervisor told me that he looked at the payroll, and the person in charge of payroll has been overpaying me for a total of $6000 since I started working there. Obviously I had no idea. Basically my supervisor gave me the option to either pay the total amount back now, or to work without pay until it’s paid off (which would be until November), or to continue working but with additional days per week where I wouldn’t be paid.

Honestly, I can’t afford to work a single day without pay – even when I’m not in the office, I use any spare time to take up any freelance gigs that are available, or to apply to additional jobs. I definitely can’t pay back the $6000 now. I’m barely making my rent as is.

I’m just wondering what the legal precedent is for this kind of thing – does this happen often? What options do I have? Any advice at all, even if it’s brutally realistic, would be appreciated.