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As part of a hiring offer, I have been granted the benefit of being reimbursed for moving expenses between two cities in Germany.

Unfortunately, instead of being reimbursed, the employer has transferred the money to the moving company, although I had done the same 1 month prior.

Now, the moving company does not respond to emails, and at the phone they claim they have reversed my transaction to avoid paying twice for the same invoice. Till today, they haven't wired back any money, neither to myself, nor to my employer and this has been going on since January 2021.

What can be done in this case? Hire a lawyer? To my limited knowledge of accounting, the company would need to justify the money that was paid twice, and it is not a negligible sum. So, unless they commit tax fraud and provide forged invoices to justify the second transfer, I would assume the tax office can be notified and they would end up with a criminal record, but I probably need to send them a lawyer notification.

Is there any preferred procedure in such a case?

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  • Did you give your employer the original receipts of your payment? If yes, it would be their affair to get the second payment refunded and the amount credited to you. – Mark Johnson Mar 3 at 12:15
  • I gave them the receipts indeed. The employer has asked me to solve it, as they have paid themselves, although the procedure said they were to pay to myself. Anyway, should I get a lawyer in this case? I am a bit befuddled. Shouldn't transactions that go through a bank be reflected in accounting and thus in need of jrustification on both sides? – teodron Mar 4 at 13:16
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    If you have a Betriebsrat, go to them first and try to resolve it through them. Normal procedure is: a) they contract the movers, they pay directly ; b) you organize everything (at their request) and gave them the receipts, they pay you the outlaid sum. A proper Betriebsrat will tell them that they goofed up and to resolve the problem themselves (Verursacherprinzip, no English word for this it seems: 'they who caused the problem, should resolve it' ). If that doesn't work, then yes, a lawyer. – Mark Johnson Mar 4 at 14:08
  • Thanks @MarkJohnson. No Betriebsrat sadly, but I'll take this with my employer. They would at least have access to a lawyer in essence. – teodron Mar 4 at 17:03

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