Open Question: Returned Check Fee Questions?

I have a dba (doing business as) business which is basically a personal account with some business privileges since I do have a business which is a sole proprietor. In the past when I have had client's checks returned to me, I have only been able to charge the returned check fee which is posted at my farm and not any bank fees for the subsequent NSF checks which were already written out of my account (my bank account fluctuates from negative to 8,000 dollars a day). I write a lot of checks, have a ton of credits, and have several auto pay items.

The problem that I have is that I wrote a check to one of my now ex-employees (not because of this occurrance decided that she wanted to leave for bigger and better things). In the meantime, a payee of mine deposited a post dated check earlier than what it was written, and the check to my ex-employee bounced as the bigger check to that person was paid first.

Now my ex-employee thinks that I should have to pay the $300 in fees for her Continued.

She thinks that I should have to pay the $300 in fees which her bank charged her for checks and atm/debit transactions which she did after she deposited the check (one of these checks actually is a check written to me).

I know that I have to pay the money for the original amount of the check, and the bank fee for her $10, but I was going to pay $30 for a returned check fee (maximum by TN state law) in order to make it go smoother.

I cannot get the bank fees from my clients for checks that I have written when their checks bounce, so I do not know why she expects to get that from me. Our state law says that she can get a maximum of $30 for a handling fee in addition to the face value of the check.

What are your thoughts? I know that it comes down to morals, but she cost me lots of business and headaches over her no two week notice for leaving and much more beyond that. She worked for me for over a year and received many extra benefits, money, etc. Thanks! I do have overdraft protection which is the weird thing as to why her check was not paid. I have not had a returned check in over 6 years. Really odd. In regards to the post dated check, I am well aware of the chance of them paying them early, but because of the overdraft protection, never have had a problem with it. I have post dated checks with many payees for my business due to the large amounts of money that I pay them each month in order to break it down into smaller payments. I have had issues with early deposit of them in the past, but never any returned checks off of it.

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