My Boss Is Accusing Me Of Stealing Paid Leave And Is Demanding $1800

I work in a restaurant in Chicago and the owner is telling me to write him a check or set up a payment plan with him for $1800 I allegedly stole.

In May of last year, I asked the general manager what paid leave I had accrued over the 3 years I had worked at this job. He informed me, as indicated on my pay stubs, that I had 120 hours. I cashed in on them at a rate of $20 per hour, which is the highest I earn there (I work several positions, each with a different wage). In June, the manager was fired due to his severe drinking problem.

Since then, my boss has taken on a much larger role in managing the finances of the restaurant. He informed me last week that the total hours of paid time off I had earned was simply made up by the manager, and, in actuality, I had only earned 27.8 in the period of 1/1/24 through 12/29/24. Therefore, I was overpaid and now have a negative balance of -$1844.

My coworkers are upset and think it is unjust to have to pay for what was the general manager's mistake. I don't have $1844 to spend, and taking money out of my checks every two weeks would make my life difficult. Is there a labor law that could help me show that this is the fault of the manager who oversaw and approved the erroneous paying out in the first place?