Over paid at work, they want it back HELP!

emzeebabez

Hi
I wonder if anyone can help? Bit of a long story but here it goes.

I work for a local council as a receptionist and was contracted for part time hours, this was up until i handed in my notice for my contracted hours in september and ceased contracted employment then (however i still work on a casual basis).

Back in July/August sometime i had two consecutive sick days and therefore i was off for them two days, then returned to work and completed my shifts as usual... or so i thought.
Payslips get sent to place of work and not house address. I have not noticed anything unusual about them until i got a voicemail call off my place of work end of sept/beginning of october, and so i went into centre to speak to duty manager to see what was wrong.. it was here i picked up septembers payslip which i though was off as i had 'Sick pay' on payslip instead of my contract hours... went to see manager and queried this and he said that this was why he rang. As nobody has bothered to take me off sick.. HR have contacted the centre where i work and queried whether i am still on the sick as they have received notice that i myself have handed in my notice. Apparantly nobody had bothered telling HR i was back to work and so i have been on the sick for a few month! Anyhow.. did my back to work interview and was told that it would be fine now...

..... this week have received a letter at my mams address(just moved out) stating that i have been over paid sick pay in september and that they would like £230 back.
Can anyone help me with this? i did not notice any increase in pay so this has came as quite a shock.
Basically, they have had me on sick for a couple of month whilst i was still working my contract hours and extra!

I am quite happy to pay part installments e.g. £10 a month back as my situation has now changed... i can not afford to pay £230 out straight away... im a now a student nurse and have very little income! And to top it all off im not gonna even have a casual job come january as the centre i work at is being shut down whilst it gets done out for a year!

Sorry this is really long winded... but do you think i will be allowed to pay installments back? or even not pay it at all as it was clearly a big mistake on their behalf

Thanks


However.........

melancholly

every time i've known someone to be overpaid, they've been able to pay it back in installments. i think avoiding paying it back completely isn't quite right (regardless of it being their incompetance!), but if you speak to someone in the HR department you should be able to make some arrangements (i'd go to HR rather than your old duty manager for that though)

exel1966

I don't think you have the legal/moral right to keep the money if you've been overpaid, however because you did not realise at the time you cannot be forced into paying it back at once, but should be given a mutually agreeable timeframe in which to return the money.

I think it would be very unfair and unrealistic of them to insisit on a full immediate repayment just as it would be unfair for you to keep the money.

Hopefully you'll be able to come to a suitable arrangement.

geordie_joe

emzeebabez wrote: »

Can anyone help me with this? i did not notice any increase in pay so this has came as quite a shock.
Basically, they have had me on sick for a couple of month whilst i was still working my contract hours and extra!
.

How come sick pay is more than your "contracted hours and extra"?

Surely sick pay is no more than your contracted hours.

chrisa027

As the mistake is on their part, you must pay the amount back but it is up to you how much you pay back at a time.

kazwookie

Just tell them straight, you will pay back £10 per week or what ever, and point out if they argue it is their mess in the first place.

Stick to your guns, and get any thing you agree in writting from them.

jonesMUFCforever

This is very interesting!
If they had UNDER paid the OP could they choose to pay the amount owed at £10 a month say??

chrisa027

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

This is very interesting!
If they had UNDER paid the OP could they choose to pay the amount owed at £10 a month say??

No. Pay is a contractual matter and must be paid at the agreed amount and rate. If they under pay they must correct it asap.

JohalaReewi

Also double check that the company are correct in saying they overpaid you (and they have calculated the amount correctly). complex payroll calculations these days are done by computer, but calculations of overpayments are nornally done manually by a clerk leaving plenty of scope for errors.

My dad had the same problem with his employer who claimed that he had been overpaid and they just took the overpayment out of his next pay packet. When he got them to prove when he had been overpaid and how they worked out how much he had been overpaid by, they had got it wrong and in fact, they owed him money. (by the way, they still haven't made good this underpayment).

Any

I completely agree with Johala Reewi & I find Georgie Joe's question very "to the point".
They paid you sick leave instead of contracted hours and they OVERPAID YOU??? I just cannot see how that works.
Can you please post up exact amounts of your wages for each of the relevant months and what does it say in "description" on the payslip?

Tozer

chrisa027 wrote: »

As the mistake is on their part, you must pay the amount back but it is up to you how much you pay back at a time.

Its not up to the OP how quickly to pay it back. It will be a matter of agreement.

In theory, they could pursue the claim as a debt and obtain judgment for it to be paid straightaway.