Being overpaid at work - what should we do ?

Hi Everyone.
Hope this is the correct forum for this question, apologies if not.

My wife returned from maternity leave at the beginning of the year, to work part-time three days a week.
We've just noticed that in the last few payslips since she's been back that they seem to have miscalculated the number of hours shes working. The effect of this is that her basic salary ( before deductions ) is actually slightly more than it was when she worked 5 days a week full time.

The company she works for is a large multinational so it may be that this error will go unnoticed for several months or even years. We're tempted to come clean and let the company know thier mistake. On the other hand we're also thinking of putting the difference into a high interest account and not touching it, ready for when ( or if ) they notice thier mistake.

Does anyone know our legal position in this ? i.e Are we commiting an offence by not letting the company know they are paying her too much. Secondly, if the company did find out say a year down the line, could they ask for thier money back ? ( I imagine the answer to this is yes)

thanks in advance,
bumpy.
«1

Comments

  • jonesMUFCforever
    jonesMUFCforever Posts: 28,898
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    If you let them know now the amount reclaimed will be relatively small.
    If you let it linger you will get a shock. This will be found out eventually and you will be liable to repay it all.
  • Mother_Hub
    Mother_Hub Posts: 335 Forumite
    I agree with ejones. My son has been overpaid by his employer on more than one occasion I have always told him to inform them and pay the money back.
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  • mountainofdebt
    mountainofdebt Posts: 7,795
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    Whilst I am not advocating you keep the money I think you have to be careful of the tax/ni implications so I would want a new pay slip showing the correct deductions.

    The other thing to consider is pension contributions especially of your wife is contributing a percentage of her salary.

    Also consider any repayments to the student loan people.
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  • turbobob
    turbobob Posts: 1,500 Forumite
    I've had this happen a few times, and in each case my employer deducted it from the following months pay slip. In my case they actually told me it had happened, and that it would be deducted.

    I would say as your wife is aware of it, it is her responsibility to inform the employers. They WILL take it back eventually, and by not letting on, she would not exactly be making herself look the most honest of employees.
  • Bettyboop
    Bettyboop Posts: 1,343 Forumite
    This happened to me and I didn't even know! I was told out of the blue that I was being overpaid by £150.00 for month. There was a mix up in my hours etc which led to this mistake. When my salary was eventually adjusted I was earning so little! I should have done the math but didn't. My employer only took one months pay back.....which was okay....so that month I only had £83.00 to live on.

    If I had noticed I would have told them first.... Just try and do the right thing.


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  • Volcano
    Volcano Posts: 1,116 Forumite
    Personally I'd go with your option of sticking the extra cash into another account in case you're asked to pay it back, bearing in mind mountainofdebt's sensible advice.

    Multinational companies make billions and pay their workers peanuts, no need to feel guilty. And no they don't always find out, as a company that overpaid me by 2 months wages in 1996 will testify (if they knew of course).
  • vaio
    vaio Posts: 12,287
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    Bettyboop wrote: »
    This happened to me and I didn't even know! I was told out of the blue that I was being overpaid by £150.00 for month. There was a mix up in my hours etc which led to this mistake. When my salary was eventually adjusted I was earning so little! I should have done the math but didn't. My employer only took one months pay back.....which was okay....so that month I only had £83.00 to live on. If I had noticed I would have told them first.... Just try and do the right thing.

    I seem to remember there is a maximum % they can take from your wages in cases of overpayment
  • roxy7699
    roxy7699 Posts: 1,067
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    check that the contract doesnt stipulate that it is your responsibility to check your wages if you choose to hold onto it
  • Zelie
    Zelie Posts: 773 Forumite
    Well holding onto it would be theft so best thing you can do is not spend it. Ideally whack it in a high interest bearing instant access account so when they do ask for it back you won't have difficulties.
  • Dithering_Dad
    Dithering_Dad Posts: 4,554
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    Hi, I'm a payroll consultant (and have worked for many multinationals in my time) and would always fess up when I had been overpaid. Large companies have regular audits and reconciliations and eventually they find these sorts of mistakes. The longer it goes on, the more money will be deducted from your pay to redress the balance.

    They can take the entire month's wage if that is what they are owed, because it is their money, not yours. Usually they come to an arrangement, especially if it is their mistake, but not always - especially if they think you knew about the mistake and kept quiet.

    The real problem comes in reclaiming the tax, NI and pension (if any) payments made, especially if it crosses a tax year. An employer would take a dim view of having to sort out this sort of mess, especially if it clear that you kept quiet about the error (let's face it, most of us know to the penny how much we're paid, so if an extra 200 quid suddenly appears in your pay, you'd notice).
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