Taking agreed-upon pay away is wrong

In the Feb. 8 Fresno Bee on page 5A, there was an article about a state worker having to return $20,000 that her bosses had approved as a pay raise, and confirmed in two reviews thereafter, despite her immediate concerns that it was not proper.

Now 10 years later, the state decided that she had been correct and they had been wrong, so she now owes $20,000 back pay. Apparently the state and its labor arbitrator, who approved the state's right to garnish her wages for the back pay, never heard of the old legal principle of “estoppel.” That principle says that if you continually lead a person to accept a situation, then you cannot complain that it was wrong.

Jim Flanagan, Madera

This story was originally published July 10, 2017 at 2:18 PM with the headline "Taking agreed-upon pay away is wrong."