work trying to money off me

harrison26

around 12 month ago i got a pay rise of 4%...i went to my manager and told him i thought my wages was wrong (getting payed to much)
he said no its right ..... now they are saying ive been getting payed to much and they are going to drop my wage but over £1000 a yr and they want me to pay back some of the money ive been over payed

where do i stand with this as im not a happy bunny at the mo

regards

Daz

patman99

Point-out that you did inform them they were paying you too much but they did nothing about it at the time. They may be more lenient and let you pay it back a an affordable rate.

They over-paid you. You now have to decide whether -
a) You negotiate to repay it over a reasonable period. Or
b) refuse to repay it and end up with the Police arresting you for theft.

At the end of the day, it is their money. However, you have the benefit of the interest it has earned you, so you will be a few quid up all told.

ceridwen

Must admit I am rather surprised that you queried it with them in the first place...

Reason = I would have just assumed "Oh - this must be my yearly cost-of-living rise" and said nothing in your position. Unless, of course, you had only just had a cost-of-living rise (in which case - I could understand why you did that...).

Is there any way that you could, in hindsight, plead that you thought "On reflection - this must be my annual cost-of-living rise" and so "Why are you saying now that it ISNT?".

EDIT: How could they prove it WASNT a cost-of-living rise in fact? Do they have a way to prove this? It really would be a perfectly reasonable assumption for ANY employee to assume that that is what it was....

Also - you want to look up the legal position on this - just in case they DO manage to plead that it was a mistake instead. I have an idea that an employer who accidentally overpays a member of staff may not have the legal right to reclaim the money. HOpefully SarEl will be along soon and will be confirm whether they are legally able to reclaim this money.

Googlewhacker

just so we are clear, are they paying you 4% and this is to much or did you agree 4% but they have paid well over 4%?

patman99

At the end of the day, it pays to not only query whether you are getting paid to much, but to get confirmation in writing as to the outcome. That way, if they later discover they have overpaid you, you can send them a copy of the letter they gave you stating your wages were correct.
This would then make it very hard for them to persue through the courts as you would have evidence that you had queried it and they had confirmed your wages were correct.

dseventy

ceridwen wrote: »

Must admit I am rather surprised that you queried it with them in the first place...

Reason = I would have just assumed "Oh - this must be my yearly cost-of-living rise" and said nothing in your position. Unless, of course, you had only just had a cost-of-living rise (in which case - I could understand why you did that...).

Is there any way that you could, in hindsight, plead that you thought "On reflection - this must be my annual cost-of-living rise" and so "Why are you saying now that it ISNT?".

EDIT: How could they prove it WASNT a cost-of-living rise in fact? Do they have a way to prove this? It really would be a perfectly reasonable assumption for ANY employee to assume that that is what it was....

Also - you want to look up the legal position on this - just in case they DO manage to plead that it was a mistake instead. I have an idea that an employer who accidentally overpays a member of staff may not have the legal right to reclaim the money. HOpefully SarEl will be along soon and will be confirm whether they are legally able to reclaim this money.

Ceridwen your advice is incorrect and offers a false hope, please think before you post. A 4% "cost of living rise"? Where do you live Ceridwen? And what employer in the last 12 months have paid 4% increase for "cost of living".

OP, if its wrong and you were overpaid, then you are overpaid. Ask them to provide a breakdown of payments and check this against your payslips.

Certainly raise the problem with your employer and point out that you queried it at the time as was told its not an issue. It might get you some leverage, but I doubt it unfortnatly.

The usual is to pay it back in installments (at or around the rate of overpayment).

ceridwen

Inflation has been around that level - if not a tiny bit higher - and there ARE employers who have given cost-of-living rises that arent that different to the inflation level.

I am obviously well aware that there are also employers who havent given any cost-of-living rise at all for the last year or two and even some who have actually cut wages/salaries.

But - I still stand by my first thought would have been "This must be my annual cost-of-living rise then...". If it had been 20%, even 10%, then I would have wondered - but only 4%...then no I wouldnt have even queried it...

Red_Panda_2

dseventy wrote: »

Ceridwen your advice is incorrect and offers a false hope, please think before you post. A 4% "cost of living rise"? Where do you live Ceridwen? And what employer in the last 12 months have paid 4% increase for "cost of living".

Mine did (4.5%) , and my partner also. So not incorrect advise at all. Infact quite a few people I know still got their cost of living increase this year, which ranges between 2.5% and 4.5%.

hcb42

what matters is what was communicated at the time. OP, what paperwork/verbal evidence do you have of the £1K

Why did you think it was too much? It is a lot in this climate for a routine payrise, but it isnt all that unusual..

harrison26

they have made a mistake with my wages before so when the whole company got a 4% rise it put my wage higher than some others.
i didnt want to have to pay back the debt out of my wages like before.

what i need to know is...can they drop my wage and can they claim back the money....what are the laws ?

thankyou all
Daz

DCFC79

harrison26 wrote: »

they have made a mistake with my wages before so when the whole company got a 4% rise it put my wage higher than some others.
i didnt want to have to pay back the debt out of my wages like before.

what i need to know is...can they drop my wage and can they claim back the money....what are the laws ?

thankyou all
Daz

as been said you need to ask for a breakdown, wher ethey think they overpaid you,