Work have messed up my pay - need help!

Jo_R_2 · 29 June 2006 at 11:35AM

I was totally confused as to where to post this one so here goes and let's see!

I received my payslip today. I am paid monthly in arrears, so basically I should have been paid for all of June. However, upon some rough reckonings so far, I am "missing" somewhere between £300-£400.

What has happened is that I have been signed off sick since March. I had already notified my manager of my intention to take 2 weeks annual leave prior to my maternity leave starting, then start my statutory maternity pay. What this means is that for this month I should have been paid for two weeks annual leave, then the rest as SMP, which is just under three weeks. This was all official both by my manager and by HR re: the maternity leave, and is not impacted on by my sick leave (ie yr maternity leave can automatically be triggered if you are off sick in the last 4 weeks of pregnancy, but my sick finished the week before, and have had a confirmation letter through from HR again stating what I am entitled to.)

However, it appears that what has happened is that somewhere along the line, is that I have been put down as still being sick for the period I should have been on annual leave. As I have been off sick for a while now, my occupational sick pay has run out and so on my payslip is statutory sick pay instead of annual leave, which as you can imagine makes quite a bit of difference!

I am absolutely fuming about this! I had anticipated the drop in earnings of SMP and the annual leave I had accruing and made sure that for this month we would not be too much out of pocket, yet someone (I think my manager) has ballsed up and "forgotten" to put down my annual leave. :mad:

We had a bad month last month as my occupational sick pay ran out just then and a handful of DDs bounced, costing us in bank charges (which I am in the process of starting to claim back luckily!) And now it looks like it is going to happen again, through no fault of my own...

Does anyone know where I stand on this - I've contacted my manager and am waiting for her to get back to me as payroll queries are dealt with this way (and I suspect it's her mistake!) Can I demand that they reimburse me when I get paid (last day of month) or as I am worrying about, payroll may say that they can't do anything until next month now?

Help!

Kevicho · 29 June 2006 at 11:39AM

Id just hang in there, its clearly a payroll mistake and should be sorted soon

Letus know how it turns out, then we can start looking at your ooptions

Kev

inkie · 29 June 2006 at 12:00PM

As everything was agreed and it appers that there has been an oversight somewhere in the system - I am sure that everything will sort out and work in your favour. However, I would state that you are not prepared to wait for the adjustment to be made next month - and ask if you can receive what you are owed now. If the cannot for whatever reason do this by BGC then, they could actually do it by a cheque - not ideal, but would mean that you don't have to wait for next months payday. Be quite firm (but polite) that you are not prepared to wait, as it's their mistake - you did all the notifying.

Hope this helps

caleo · 29 June 2006 at 12:04PM

I have a similar problem. I have returned to work after maternity leave, but have been signed off sick. I "went back" on the 5th June, and I have been paid just the SMP for up to 5th June!!! I have spent one and a half days trying to sort it out, and they have now agreed to transfer the funds into my account today....................I hope, after they fought over which department was going to fund the CHAPS transfer! They seemed to think it wasn't major.................well, paying me £1400 short is a bit more than major to me when it is the only income we have!

Just to let you know you are not on your own! If it was their mistake, they should rectify it and pay you now, not at the end of July!

Hope it gets sorted

Caleo

domestic_goddess · 29 June 2006 at 12:07PM

My work have a policy where they will pay you at the end of the following month..... whether its their mistake or yours.

How bad is that?

MCBIRNIE25 · 29 June 2006 at 12:22PM

Hi in the Civil Service, they can authorise emergency payments in situations like this. They say they can't but I have it in writing that they can ;-)
Also, they will repay any charges you incur if you send them copies of bank statements etc due to 1 of their errors.
I would insist on an emergency payment, with BACS/CHAPS it is not really that much extra work, but would require the authorisation of your manager. By law they cannot leave you in hardship for 1 of their errors.
Let me know if you need some help.

furrychimp · 29 June 2006 at 10:10PM

i work in a finance department, and as McBirnie said if you incur any charges as a result of this, your employer should refund them, as this is also an ethical issue. Provided that you made your position clear re your leave (ideally in writing, or by email) you should be able to insist on a CHAPS payment. This should hit your account the same day, providing it is sent before the deadline (usually around noon i think), so it's better than a BACS payment, which can take 3 days to reach you. Good Luck getting it sorted!!

Jo_R_2 · 29 June 2006 at 10:17PM

Thanks all, unfortunately I haven't heard back from my manager which is a bit of a problem as it is her who authorises all holidays and makes it a bit awkward to go through payroll directly as obviously if they haven't been told I put in annual leave then they'll have no idea about it!

I submitted my request for annual leave in February, both on my annual leave form which has to be countersigned by my manager, and in the letter whereby I informed her I was pregnant and of my intention to take maternity leave and SMP, so it's there twice somewhere!

[Deleted User] · 29 June 2006 at 10:56PM

If it is their mistake then your paygroup should be able to authorise an Imprest, basically providing ou with what you are owed. I understand that this is how it worked at my empolyers (international Blus CHip co, not sure what yours is) and I have authorised this in the past wher pay group had made errors of rmy team members.

May be worth investigating? Good luck

D

molerat · 29 June 2006 at 11:14PM

My company usually give an advance by cheque or via the weekly bank run to cover the mistake. They then correct it on the next pay slip and deduct the amount of the advance.

Jo_R_2 · 30 June 2006 at 12:10PM

Hi all!

Spoke to my manager this am, and she has spoken to payroll. They have looked into it and said there is obviously some kind of discrepancy as on my sick note it states it only runs until the end of May so obviously for June there should be no sick pay on my payslip, but annual leave instead.

However... The lady who deals with our region is off until Tuesday so I was told I will be getting a phone call then to advise me on what will be happening. I am mightily peeved as the majority of my DDs will go out tomorrow on the 1st of the month and there won't be enough money to cover them and I know I am going to get charged for either having them paid or them being refused - probably a mix of both, then on top of that the unauthorised overdraft amount :mad: :mad: :mad: Then of course if any are refused that's going to go against me credit-wise...

I know it has been mentioned by a couple of posters (furrychimp, mcbirnie25) that I can reclaim these costs back - can anyone advise me where I stand so if I put this to them and they say no, then I can quote at them?

I would go down to the bank and explain and hope they can take pity on me but I am extremely heavily pregnant (3 days overdue) and trailing anywhere away from home is the last thing I want to be doing...

Thanks!

Work have messed up my pay - need help!

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