overpayment of wages causing dept.

mumburt

My daughter is about to go back to work next week after maternity leave.She has had a letter from her employer stating they have over paid her whilst on maternity leave (did not say how much) they now are not going to pay her at all this month and only half pay next month to recover this money (She is going back part time)She needs this months money to pay nursery fees upfront and next.Can she argue that the money should be taken over a longer time as their mistake will put her into debt? She also has a staff loan with the company ( a big bank which I would like to shame!)and will not be able to pay that either plunging her into further debt. she has a partner but they just scrape through now.Help,advice please.:(

AsknAnswer2

You might get more responses posting under the employment forums, because this is an employment issue rather than a benefit issue. You might want to contact ACAS about this to ask if it would be an unlawful deduction from wages. They are of course allowed to recover it but with deductions there are strict rules they must follow which can vary depending on what the deduction is for. Some deductions require the employees written consent, some have a statutory maximum of what can be deducted at a time.

mumburt

thank you for this.

[Deleted User]

They cannot do this it would be classed as an unlawful deduction. First I would advise that she writes and asks for a full explanation of the overpayment. It's a complex area because if she believed she was entitled to the money (i.e didn't realise the overpayment) you can challenge it and not pay it back, however if she is staying in employment she may decide to pay it back to keep things sweet

[FONT=Arial,Helvetica][SIZE=-1]S13 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 states that an employer may not make deductions from the wages of an employed worker unless: [/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=Arial,Helvetica][SIZE=-1]* The deduction is required or authorised by statute; [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial,Helvetica][SIZE=-1]* The deduction is authorised by a relevant provision of the worker's contract of employment, or; [/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica][SIZE=-1]* The worker has previously given his or her written agreement or consent to the deduction being made. [/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=Arial,Helvetica][SIZE=-1]An employee can claim unlawful deductions from his/her wages in the Employment Tribunal even if he/she remains in employment. [/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica][SIZE=-1]Dismissal of an employee as a consequence of that employee asserting the statutory right not to be subject to unlawful deductions from his/her wages is automatically unfair. This applies even if no unlawful deductions have actually been made, as long as the employee honestly believes that the deduction has been made. An employee does not need to have one year's continuous employment to claim unfair dismissal. [/SIZE][/FONT]