Outstanding Back Pay!

nobbynaishgolf

Can anyone advise on the following:-

I have just found out that my partner, who took a year off of work due to breast cancer, is being paid the incorrect amount of basic salary. She had 6 months of full pay and six months of half pay whilst she was off work (this is what her company pay as standard for long term illness for any employee that has more than 5 years service), however it has just come to light that although she has been back at work now for almost 18 months, they never increased her basic salary back to her pre-illness level, therefore she has been receiving half pay (which actually works out to less than the minimum wage), I have done a calculation and believe that she is owed almost £7,000. She has spoken to her employer this morning, who has confirmed that there has been a mistake and they are looking into it, we have obviously asked for the back pay and for her basic salary to be adjusted straight away.

A couple of thoughts:- can I ask them to include 6% interest on the monies that are owed? also, as my partner had an ever increasing overdraft whilst she was off ill, we are now paying interest of approx £75 a month on this overdraft (currently £4,000), if she had received the correct pay over the last 18 months, the overdraft would have been paid off, can I possibly chase her employer for the bank charges?

Don't even ask how she didn't know that she was getting paid the wrong basic salary, we had that entertaining conversation last night!

Thanks for your help and advice in advance.

KiKi

nobbynaishgolf wrote: »

Can anyone advise on the following:-

I have just found out that my partner, who took a year off of work due to breast cancer, is being paid the incorrect amount of basic salary. She had 6 months of full pay and six months of half pay whilst she was off work (this is what her company pay as standard for long term illness for any employee that has more than 5 years service), however it has just come to light that although she has been back at work now for almost 18 months, they never increased her basic salary back to her pre-illness level, therefore she has been receiving half pay (which actually works out to less than the minimum wage), I have done a calculation and believe that she is owed almost £7,000. She has spoken to her employer this morning, who has confirmed that there has been a mistake and they are looking into it, we have obviously asked for the back pay and for her basic salary to be adjusted straight away.

A couple of thoughts:- can I ask them to include 6% interest on the monies that are owed? also, as my partner had an ever increasing overdraft whilst she was off ill, we are now paying interest of approx £75 a month on this overdraft (currently £4,000), if she had received the correct pay over the last 18 months, the overdraft would have been paid off, can I possibly chase her employer for the bank charges?

Don't even ask how she didn't know that she was getting paid the wrong basic salary, we had that entertaining conversation last night!

Thanks for your help and advice in advance.

Tricky one.

If it were a work mistake once, and she didn't get paid and racked up charges for returned Direct Debits etc, then I'd say they were liable.

But to not notice for 18 months is crazy. It's a HUGE mistake on their part, but you believed she had her full salary and still chose to use the overdraft on that basis. If you needed to use the OD, then surely you would have questioned why, when you hadn't previously needed to use it?

You can but try, I suppose, but I'd try for the interest rather than the bank charges. You can confidently say you've lost out on interest, but proving you wouldn't have racked up an overdraft anyway is much harder.

KiKi

KiKi

ETA - how will they pay her back? Lump sum? Will it take her into the 40% pay bracket if she isn't already?

nobbynaishgolf

KiKi wrote: »

ETA - how will they pay her back? Lump sum? Will it take her into the 40% pay bracket if she isn't already?

Hi, thanks for that, no idea at this moment in time - we are awaiting the outcome of our complaint that we made this morning. Even if it was paid back in a lump sum, it wouldn't take her over the 40% tax bracket.

nobbynaishgolf

KiKi wrote: »

Tricky one.

If it were a work mistake once, and she didn't get paid and racked up charges for returned Direct Debits etc, then I'd say they were liable.

But to not notice for 18 months is crazy. It's a HUGE mistake on their part, but you believed she had her full salary and still chose to use the overdraft on that basis. If you needed to use the OD, then surely you would have questioned why, when you hadn't previously needed to use it?

You can but try, I suppose, but I'd try for the interest rather than the bank charges. You can confidently say you've lost out on interest, but proving you wouldn't have racked up an overdraft anyway is much harder.

KiKi

Interestingly, I didn't think she was getting paid the correct amount, although I had no idea what she got paid as a full basic salary before she became ill, I asked her on a number of occasions that I thought it was low, her response was I work for a charity (RSPCA) so I don't get paid much. It was only last night when I asked her if I could look at her bank account in depth that I realised that in fact she was being paid less than the NMW, therefore it had to be wrong, so I investigated some more - glad I did now!!!!!

KiKi

nobbynaishgolf wrote: »

Interestingly, I didn't think she was getting paid the correct amount, although I had no idea what she got paid as a full basic salary before she became ill, I asked her on a number of occasions that I thought it was low, her response was I work for a charity (RSPCA) so I don't get paid much. It was only last night when I asked her if I could look at her bank account in depth that I realised that in fact she was being paid less than the NMW, therefore it had to be wrong, so I investigated some more - glad I did now!!!!!

Wow, she's lucky to have a boy/girlfriend like you then!

I'd ensure it's delivered as a lump sum. She'll be taxed heavily that month, but it will then work itself out before April next year (she'll get tax back in subsequent pay days), as long as she's not in the 40% bracket.

Good luck!
KiKi

nobbynaishgolf

KiKi wrote: »

Wow, she's lucky to have a boy/girlfriend like you then!

I'd ensure it's delivered as a lump sum. She'll be taxed heavily that month, but it will then work itself out before April next year (she'll get tax back in subsequent pay days), as long as she's not in the 40% bracket.

Good luck!
KiKi

LOL, I'll take that as a compliment ;-) thank for your advice, much appreciated.