Overpayment of sick pay

Fair_and_Square

Hi

I wonder if anyone would be able to help here.

To cut a very long story short, I was off work ill for a while last year. During this time I specifically asked my then line manager (I was dismissed on the grounds of ill health on 13th December - happy Christmas!) what sick pay I was entitled to as I thought it was incremental as to how long I'd been there (2 years' service = 2 months full pay, 2 months half) but she said specifically on at least two occasions that she believed it was 6 months full pay and 6 months half and that she would check with payroll but that she was sure it was the case. She never did get back to me and I assumed that she was correct or I would have been informed otherwise.

Fast forward a few weeks and when I returned to work I was informed that I had been overpaid sick pay to the tune of £400 and I was told that I had to agree repayment terms with my line manager. I said that I would contest the overpayment by raising a grievance as I had been informed that I was entitled to 6 months full pay and 6 months half and that had this been incorrect I would have made alternative arrangements for financial support during the time I was off work ill. Nothing else was said or done after this and I never did get any information back from HR about raising a grievance.

Fast forward another few weeks - I was dismissed 12 weeks ago exactly and yesterday I received a letter from the company sent by special delivery saying that they had not received any response from me regarding the overpayment and that if I have not made a payment by 19th March the matter will be passed to their legal department.

Where do I go from here? The money was paid to me in good faith and I believed I was entitled to it as I had asked my line manager to check the situation, which I now know she obviously never did. The money has been spent as I did not know not to do otherwise.

Help!

Many thanks for any advice.

Jarndyce

Unfortunately, legally, you are required to pay this money back, and if the employer is so minded they can take court action in order to force you to do so.

However, you have strong mitigating arguments. My advice would be to continue to use those arguments to rebut any attempt to recover the money. You may be lucky and they may write it off. If they do move to court action, then you will have the opportunity to make an offer of paying back part of the money over a period of time - say £10 a month for 18 months/two years. Worth a try.