I am honestly shaking right now because this feels like a total shakedown but I need to know the legal reality before I do something stupid. I worked for a small private firm in Florida for about two years as a mechanical technician. I quit back in January on good terms, gave my two weeks, and even helped train the guy they hired to replace me. My final paycheck included my regular hours plus a performance bonus that was cleared by the owner himself in writing via email. Everything seemed fine and I have already moved on to a new job.
Fast forward to this morning, I get a series of aggressive texts and then a formal looking email from my former boss. He claims that their "audit" showed I was overpaid by nearly $2,800 due to a clerical error in how the bonus was calculated and some overlapping hours in my final week. The kicker is that he is demanding I bring the full amount in cash to their office by Friday. He literally wrote that if I do not show up with the money he will file a police report for "theft of funds" and contact my current employer to inform them of my "dishonesty."
This bonus was specifically promised to me for finishing a massive Revit project ahead of schedule. I have the email where he says "Great job, the $2,500 bonus will be on your final check." Now he is saying that was a "gross" figure and they accidentally paid it as "net" plus some other nonsense about hourly rates. I have already spent that money on bills and moving costs for my new position. Can he actually involve the police over a payroll dispute from months ago? It feels like extortion especially with the threat to call my new boss. Florida labor laws seem pretty thin from what I am reading online but this cannot be legal to demand cash like this. I am worried about my reputation at my new firm since I am still in the 90 day probation period. Do I need to get a lawyer immediately or can I just tell him to kick rocks? I have the pay stubs and the email trail but the threat of a police report is stressing me out.