(virginia) Ive Unknowingly Been Overpaid For 6 Years. Employer Is Trying To Recoup Overpayments.

Location: Virginia, U.S.A.

My employer offers special pay rates for employees who hold a degree with a STEM major. When I was first offered a job, I qualified for the special pay rate because of my Masters in [STEM]. They made this decision based on an official copy of my transcript that they reviewed themselves. I wasn't sure exactly what criteria they were using to determine what a qualifies as a STEM degree, but I didn't have any reason to question it. In my eyes, they had done their due diligence and gave me an offer and I took it.

Recently my employer conducted an audit of people on the STEM pay rate, asking to send in transcripts. I thought "no problem", I will just have another official copy sent to them, and while Im at it I will have one sent to myself too. When I got my transcript, I was shocked to learn that I do not actually hold a "M.S. in [STEM]", but a "M.S. in [non-Stem], with a specialization in [STEM]". I honestly had no idea. My coursework was consistent with a proper STEM degree. I didn't think much about the semantics of it just being a "specialization" until it started causing problems now. I wasn't intentionally trying to misrepresent myself. The employer was the one who initially reviewed my transcript and made an offer.

So now my employer is now claiming that I should have never been receiving the STEM pay rate to begin with, and is trying to recollect the difference, somewhere in the ballpark of $100,000 over 6 years.

Of course in these past 6 years, I have made large financial decisions and the $100k is not readily available to simply pay back. Ive bought a house, a car, had two kids that are costing $50k/year in daycare. Decisions that I would not have made on a much lower salary, so paying back $100k would be financially devastating. So I feel like I need to fight back against it, but of course what would be more devastating is paying back $100k plus lawyer fees. Is it at all worth it for me to try defending this? Do I have a fighting chance? I guess if their argument is that I represented my education, then my counter argument isthey misrepresented my salary but I know that would go nowhere.