Overpayed by previous job Now Unemployed

Robertrobson

Hi everyone i was wondering if you can offer some advice.

I have received a letter saying i have been over payed by a previous employer. It has emerged it has been an error on there part as i was not working for the company at the time. I understand in this circumstance i am liable to return the overpayment however...

Whilst working for this company (large retail business for 5 months) i did not get a contract, nor did i sign anything, nor was i made aware of any contract despite requesting one. In the letter requesting the money they quote an employee handbook, which i was not given or made aware of.

Finally i am currently unemployed and do not claim any benefits. They are currently threatening me with court action what should i do?

scheming_gypsy

tell them you're unemployed and can't afford to pay it. I'm guessing that if they take you to court, they'll win and you'll still be unable to pay it; so you might have to pay a fiver a week back...

Although somebody will no doubt be along soon with the official verdict on it.

hcb42

When you got paid, did you not see that the amount was different to what you had agreed before you took the job??

Although if you cannot pay it, tell them this. If they bother to take you to court, as above, you will be able to pay it back slowly, hopefully.

Blobby8_2

Write back, tell them your skint but are willing to pay £10/month back out of your benefits.

Sambucus_Nigra

Hi ex employer

Many thanks for your kind letter telling me that I owe you money. However, as your calculations do not in fact tally with mine, I will need from you detailed accounts as to what you think I owe you.

I hereby dispute any monies owing to you by myself. I would take a look at the policies mentioned in the documentation to which you refer in your letter however I have never had sight of them. Further, I am now unemployed and have zero savings, so if you do still feel that I owe you money, you will indeed need to go to court to get a penny out of me for I have none to give. If we do end up in court, I shall only be able to offer a minimum repayment if a judge deems it so.

However, perhaps you should consider an alternative route to solve your problems. If you take the money that you would use to take me to court, and invest it in your payroll department to give them training in such techniques as 'Paying wages to employees, correctly' then I feel it will be money well spent for you. In fact, if you need someone to do some research to find a training provider, I would be happy to do it for a small fee, as I am currently unemployed [as I have previously mentioned].

Kind regards

RR

LadyMissA

Sambucus_Nigra wrote: »

Hi ex employer

Many thanks for your kind letter telling me that I owe you money. However, as your calculations do not in fact tally with mine, I will need from you detailed accounts as to what you think I owe you.

I hereby dispute any monies owing to you by myself. I would take a look at the policies mentioned in the documentation to which you refer in your letter however I have never had sight of them. Further, I am now unemployed and have zero savings, so if you do still feel that I owe you money, you will indeed need to go to court to get a penny out of me for I have none to give. If we do end up in court, I shall only be able to offer a minimum repayment if a judge deems it so.

However, perhaps you should consider an alternative route to solve your problems. If you take the money that you would use to take me to court, and invest it in your payroll department to give them training in such techniques as 'Paying wages to employees, correctly' then I feel it will be money well spent for you. In fact, if you need someone to do some research to find a training provider, I would be happy to do it for a small fee, as I am currently unemployed [as I have previously mentioned].

Kind regards

RR

haha funny

LadyMissA

Robertrobson wrote: »

Hi everyone i was wondering if you can offer some advice.

I have received a letter saying i have been over payed by a previous employer. It has emerged it has been an error on there part as i was not working for the company at the time. I understand in this circumstance i am liable to return the overpayment however...

Whilst working for this company (large retail business for 5 months) i did not get a contract, nor did i sign anything, nor was i made aware of any contract despite requesting one. In the letter requesting the money they quote an employee handbook, which i was not given or made aware of.

Finally i am currently unemployed and do not claim any benefits. They are currently threatening me with court action what should i do?

over how long where you being over paid and how much is it in total?

LadyMissA

you may want to read this too


'if you have left the employment where the overpayment occurred In this situation, your former employer is unable to make a deduction from your wages. But what if, some months or years later, your former employer, or even a debt collector, contacts you claiming that you owe money that was overpayed in the former employment? Much will depend on what was stated in the employment contract. Some contracts state that, if an employee leaves the employment owing the employer money that could not be recovered from final wages, the amount owed becomes a civil debt. If there is no contractual provision to treat the alleged overpayment as a civil debt, the employer may have considerable difficulty in enforcing payment if you refuse to cooperate. In either situation, you should obtain advice from a solicitor, or the Citizen’s Advice Bureau, or another local organisation providing advice on legal, employment or tax matters.






http://www.payroll-help.com/faq/deduction-of-wage-overpayment/

HoneyBunny960

Robertrobson wrote: »

Hi everyone i was wondering if you can offer some advice.

I have received a letter saying i have been over payed by a previous employer. It has emerged it has been an error on there part as i was not working for the company at the time. I understand in this circumstance i am liable to return the overpayment however...

Whilst working for this company (large retail business for 5 months) i did not get a contract, nor did i sign anything, nor was i made aware of any contract despite requesting one. In the letter requesting the money they quote an employee handbook, which i was not given or made aware of.

Finally i am currently unemployed and do not claim any benefits. They are currently threatening me with court action what should i do?

This happened to me when I worked at a large computer store. They also threatened court action and bailiffs!. I was only working part time about 20 hours when i was 17(couple of years ago now) and after i left they sent a letter saying i owed £130. I had no money coming in apart from a small ema from school. After numerous phone calls to the head office and explanation after explanation, they said i could pay it off at £10 a month which wasn't too bad. I just had to go into the store and pay every month. Took over a year to pay them but it was worth it in the end.

SarEl

Of course, whilst you should certainly ensure that the claim they are making is correct and that you have been overpaid; and you should certainly attempt to negotiate installments for repayments of anything that you do owe, if this goes to court it may mean that you will be paying smaller installments (depending on your means) but it will also mean that you end up paying more because the court costs will be added to the debt! Which is hugely not in your best interests because you end up paying more for the priivilege of getting a CCJ and getting a bad credit score. Which will remain with you longer than your period of unemployment and may affect a lot of things that you might want to do in the future. Why are you not claiming benefits? And if you were not working for them at the time they overpaid you, didn't you actually notice that they had paid you for time that you didn't work?