Atlanta tries to recoup $600,000 it overpaid a cleaner
Atlanta tries to recoup $600,000 it overpaid a cleaner
Jasmine FernándezWed, September 30, 2026 at 1:50 AM UTC
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A former transit station cleaner in Atlanta is facing a civil lawsuit after an administrative mistake resulted in $620,000 in unearned overtime being deposited into their paycheck, according to agency officials.
The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority, or MARTA, filed the lawsuit in an attempt to recover the funds following five months of unsuccessful negotiations with the former employee.
Agency representatives told CBS News Atlanta that a “clerical error” caused the substantial overpayment in April, though specific internal details on how the accounting mistake occurred have not been made public.
The agency initially sought to resolve the matter directly without involving the legal system.
“We worked with the employee in an effort to recover those funds and hoped to resolve the matter without legal action,” a MARTA spokesperson said in a statement. “Unfortunately, the employee has yet to return the funds to MARTA.”
The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority has filed a lawsuit against a former station cleaner to recover $620,000 in unearned overtime paid out because of an administrative error, according to agency officials (Getty Images)
The identity of the worker has not been released by authorities. MARTA confirmed that both the janitor and the employee responsible for the clerical mistake are no longer employed by the agency.
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MARTA board member Valencia Williamson told ABC affiliate WSB-TV that “the community needs to understand that we’ve entrusted leadership of MARTA to handle it appropriately as they see fit, and they’ve shared how they are handling the issue.”
Under Georgia law, the transit agency is entitled to recover the accidentally distributed funds. Employment attorney Andrew Coffman told WSB-TV that although his practice regularly sees cases involving accidental overpayments, an amount of this scale is extraordinary.
MARTA is retraining staff and tightening payroll controls to prevent future accounting mistakes in response to the April incident (Getty Images)
“If someone receives an overpayment like that, they have to return it,” Coffman said, adding that he does not view the matter as a criminal issue because the funds were sent directly by the employer.
Transit riders also questioned the former employee’s decision to keep the money.
“I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I kept it,” MARTA rider Shannon Holmes told the outlet. “It would have been on my conscience for the rest of my life. I would have been looking over my back saying ooh when they coming to get me for that.”
In response to the incident, MARTA stated that it has its staff training programs and strengthened internal administrative procedures to prevent similar payroll errors from recurring.
Source: “AOL Money”
