Employer overpaid wages but now wants money back!

cn123_2

I'd agree with the idea that your friend has to pay it back. I'm wondering however - if the fact of overpayment has or will mean your friend incurring additional costs (i.e. overdraft interest if he/she has to may use of an overdraft to find the money), might the employer conceivably have an obligation under the law of negligence to compensate them for those extra costs?

Whether you want to make the argument, of course, might depend on what effect it might have on his/her future prospects!

yvonne13_2

I was in a similar situation and when I noticed pay had increased by £200 I went straight to HR.

They said it was an error due to a new database system they had installed and that I had to give the money back. I gave them the money back the next day by doing a money transfer.

The following month an extra £200 was in my wages again so I went back to HR and this time they said I could keep it as it was there error that it had happened again. I wanted to pay the money back as you never know what may happen and I was told to just send them an email and they wrote back admitting there error and that I could keep the money and not pay it back.

So sometimes honesty helps but in your friends case 15 months?? I do think them asking for £200 a month is very steep, your friend could claim hardship and they would have to look at this as I am sure they have a lot of other bills to pay. If he/she can only afford to pay back £20 a month then give that. They would rather take something then nothing and they could also give them a breakdown in there househould costs.

P.S they should go easy on them as it is part there fault why the over payment was never picked up. Get in touch with the CAB they should help.

bigsooze

Agree they will probably have to pay it back.

However I'd try to negotiate as both sides are potentially accountable for the mistake - after all 15 months is a long time for the LEA not to notice as well - so I'd try to get them to accept some responsibility for the situation as well and hopefully to write some of the amount off. You never know.

yvonne13_2

Let us now what happens, you will have a battle on your hands though as I doubt they will write off some of the money. I think the most you will get is for them to lower the payments.

Just get your friend to pay something each week or a month until this is sorted out, this will show that your friend has got all intention of paying the money back.

But please don't take this the wrong way, but how did they not notice the extra money? or was it a case of there error my gain?

Anyway I hope everything works out in the end for all parties involved.

mountainofdebt

Whilst I agree that the OP's friend would be very upset if they found out that they had been underpaid by £3k and would ask for it back so why shouldn't it work the other way as well, I would be asking for a breakdown and wanting to know what tax / NI / pension contributions had been overpaid as well.

However this article may be interesting reading as well :

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-east-wales-12043316

kingfisherblue

A teacher will know what point on the payscale they are on, as they almost always start on point 1 and increase increments each year. If the OP's friend was a newly qualified teacher and started on a higher point, he should have questioned this unless he asked for a higher starting point and agreed it before accepting the job. Each year, his increment would increase as he moved up the payscale, until he reached the Upper Pay Scale (for which he has to complete certain tasks to qualifuy for additional payments).

The Pay and Conditions forum of www.tes.co.uk has posters who can offer more specialist advice, as can the union to which the OP's friend belongs. However, it is likely that he will have to pay back any overpayment, but this should be over an agreed period of time and with due reference to tax, NI, and possibly pension and union fees.

Stigy

Reggie_Rebel wrote: »

How can you not be aware of a £3k over payment?

No wonder teachers get a bad press

If it goes back 15-months (assuming it's been slight amounts for that amount of time, rather than £3,000 in one go, 15-months ago). £200 a month is easier not to notice, than the whole amount of £3,000, surely?

Mr.Mulla

I think it is only fair to give the money back. If it can't be returned in full then she can always ask for a more manageable payment in installment. Whether your friend is aware of the over payment or not but it has been proven that there was really an over payment, then it is good manners dictates that it be returned. I'm sure that if she is on the other side of the able she would also want the money back.

Just my 2 cents.

Oldernotwiser

Uncertain wrote: »

It really gets up my %$£& the way people jump on this forum and attempt to ram their claimed "morals" down people's throats. :mad:

The OP asked a technical question with the word have underlined. I wonder if these people would be so moral if they were in the same position? :A

No, thought not. :rotfl:

There's always someone who thinks that doing the right thing is an optional extra and judges others' morality by his own standards!

Sambucus_Nigra

I'd say it very much depends on the circumstances; and why the money WAS overpaid.....and if it was a genuine mistake rather than them trying to get round a promised pay rise for example - then the money needs to be paid back over a period. Otherwise - steel in for a long battle.

Surely the same applies - if they have bad management who don't work these things out - why did it take 15 months to work out where the extra money was going? Perhaps they need a better accounts and payroll dept?