Being overpaid by 1 month salary

Brookstone

jim_cz wrote: »

Thanks to all of you for your entries.

Yes, I know that I have to return the money, I was just curious if there isn’t any loophole that would enable me to keep it . I don’t know much about the British law, as you probably could recognize from my poor English, I’m an immigrant.

It’s about £2000 that they sent me by mistake and I’d struggle to pay it back all at a time. Do you think there is a chance that they would agree with instalments?

Are you still struggling with yourself? Even your previous employer agree with instalments, but that is NOT a good thing for you, because you will be always into struggle that if I should refund the remaining. So send it back all at a time, and you will get sweet dream

Smallfries

jim_cz wrote: »

Thanks to all of you for your entries.

Yes, I know that I have to return the money, I was just curious if there isn’t any loophole that would enable me to keep it . I don’t know much about the British law, as you probably could recognize from my poor English, I’m an immigrant.

It’s about £2000 that they sent me by mistake and I’d struggle to pay it back all at a time. Do you think there is a chance that they would agree with instalments?

if it was me you worked for and you refused to pay it back i would sue you, you have spent money that isnt yours = theft.
why have you spent it????

geordie_joe

Smallfries wrote: »

if it was me you worked for and you refused to pay it back i would sue you,

You may have difficulty in recovering the money if there wa nothing in the contract to say what happens to money the employer can't recover from the final wage.

Smallfries wrote: »

you have spent money that isnt yours = theft.

Not necessarily true, it is only theft if you know it is not yours and you intend to permanently deprive the rightful owner of it. The OP may have thought it was money for untaken holidays, or part of a bonus.

Smallfries wrote: »

why have you spent it????

He/she never said they had spent it. But even if they had, they may have done it in the belief that it was a rightful payment.

Some people are not good with money/banks etc. But that doesn't mean they are thiefs.

Smallfries

geordie_joe wrote: »

you may have difficulty in recovering the money if there wa nothing in the contract to say what happens to money the employer can't recover from the final wage.



Not necessarily true, it is only theft if you know it is not yours (they knew it wasnt theirs) and you intend to permanently deprive the rightful owner of it. The op may have thought it was money for untaken holidays, or part of a bonus.



He/she never said they had spent it. But even if they had, they may have done it in the belief that it was a rightful payment. (they knew it wasnt theirs, 3 days later they had a letter saying it wasnt theirs)

some people are not good with money/banks etc. But that doesn't mean they are thiefs.

true, but they know how much they are spending, and how much they are due. Sorry, i have no sympathy here.... Sounds to me like they want something for nothing

geordie_joe

Originally Posted by geordie joe
you may have difficulty in recovering the money if there wa nothing in the contract to say what happens to money the employer can't recover from the final wage.



Not necessarily true, it is only theft if you know it is not yours (they knew it wasnt theirs) and you intend to permanently deprive the rightful owner of it. The op may have thought it was money for untaken holidays, or part of a bonus.




He/she never said they had spent it. But even if they had, they may have done it in the belief that it was a rightful payment. (they knew it wasnt theirs, 3 days later they had a letter saying it wasnt theirs)

We obviously read things differently. The way I read it the OP says they were paid the money at the end of May, and on 1 July they wrote that they got the letter "two days ago".

I'm pretty sure there is more than three days in between the end of may and two days prior to 1 July. I haven't got a calendar handy, but I would guess at it being a whole month between getting the money and getting the letter.

some people are not good with money/banks etc. But that doesn't mean they are thiefs.

Smallfries wrote: »

true, but they know how much they are spending, and how much they are due. Sorry, i have no sympathy here.... Sounds to me like they want something for nothing

How do you know that? As I said, not everyone is good with money. A couple of years ago I worked with a lad (mid twenties) from Africa. One day I noticed that he hadn't smoked, or brought lunch all week. So I asked him if he had quit smoking and gone on a diet and he replied "No, they didn't pay me again".

So after talking to him for a while, it was hard as his english was not very good, I realised that in the 5 months he had been working for us he had not been paid on three separate occasions. And he had not said anything, just carried on working and never said a word.

He was from an agency and got paid fortnightly, but three times they didn't pay him his fortnights wages and he never complained. His reason for not complaining appeared to be "they are the boss, whatever they do is right".

I have no doubt that if he had been paid double instead of not being paid he would have accepted it thinking it was right.

When_is_the_reset?

Truth is - if you didn't check and spent any money from that account without knowing about the overpayment and you did it with 'good conscience' then the money will be irrecoverable.

Any money withdrawn from the account during the 'unknowing phase' is deemed to have come from the erroneous payment. Proving all of this is hard work though.

May not be morally acceptable but there is enough muddy waters here to, at least, ask for time to repay.

woody01

When_is_the_reset? wrote: »

Truth is - if you didn't check and spent any money from that account without knowing about the overpayment and you did it with 'good conscience' then the money will be irrecoverable.

Any money withdrawn from the account during the 'unknowing phase' is deemed to have come from the erroneous payment. Proving all of this is hard work though.

May not be morally acceptable but there is enough muddy waters here to, at least, ask for time to repay.

Morally and legally, your post is misleading and absolute rubbish.

Smallfries

"We obviously read things differently. The way I read it the OP says they were paid the money at the end of May, and on 1 July they wrote that they got the letter "two days ago".

I'm pretty sure there is more than three days in between the end of may and two days prior to 1 July. I haven't got a calendar handy, but I would guess at it being a whole month between getting the money and getting the letter."

My mistake, i read that wrong. still, my point is a good one, they have money that isnt theirs, pay it back. it depends which way you look at it, 1 side would be that they didnt know it wasnt theirs so they spent it, a second side is that they knew and waited a week or so and then it was still there so they spent it. although if money went into my bank after i had left employment i would expect a pay slip telling me that it was holiday pay etc. they say "the employer didnt notice he had left" what we are missing is why the OP cant pay it back all in one go.

When_is_the_reset?

woody01 wrote: »

Morally and legally, your post is misleading and absolute rubbish.

Oooooh - get you.

Smallfries

When_is_the_reset? wrote: »

Truth is - if you didn't check and spent any money from that account without knowing about the overpayment and you did it with 'good conscience' then the money will be irrecoverable.

Any money withdrawn from the account during the 'unknowing phase' is deemed to have come from the erroneous payment. Proving all of this is hard work though.

May not be morally acceptable but there is enough muddy waters here to, at least, ask for time to repay.

so in theory, if you didnt check your bank then you would have a rough idea when you have spent your wages,