Council wanting wages back

emma.cook3

Last year (the day after my baby was born) my husband got a phone call to say he had been overpaid by the city council and we had to pay £800 back. 2 of my colleagues have now been told the same. I am worried as I also work for the council.
I would like to know
1) Can I get my wages checked so this doesn't happen to me?
2) Can the council do this, just overpay and demand the money back?

Thanks

Any

Sorry, what do you mean 'to have my wages checked'? By whom do you want it checked? Us or rmployer? Check what exactly? Tax, or what rate you should be on?
And yes-if you were overpaid they have the right to ask for it back.

Poppie68

Yes an employer has every right to get their money back. Also it really should be the responsblity of the employee to check their wage slip is correct each month.

emma.cook3

They don't seem to be trying very hard to get the wages right. Almost everyone I asked had to payback wages from the council.

Gerson2k

emma.cook3 wrote: »

Last year (the day after my baby was born) my husband got a phone call to say he had been overpaid by the city council and we had to pay £800 back. 2 of my colleagues have now been told the same. I am worried as I also work for the council.
I would like to know
1) Can I get my wages checked so this doesn't happen to me?
2) Can the council do this, just overpay and demand the money back?

Thanks

1) Yes, I presume you get a wage slip every time you're paid?

2) Yes, unfortunately mistakes happen and your employer has the legal right to to reclaim any over payment much in the same way that you could reclaim any under payment if that were ever to happen.

KiKi

emma.cook3 wrote: »

They don't seem to be trying very hard to get the wages right. Almost everyone I asked had to payback wages from the council.

I'm sure it's not that they're 'not trying very hard'. Why would they do that? It only creates more work for them.

Much more likely, given it's applying to a number people, that it's a specific error which hit a certain group of staff. Errors happen sometimes.

As Any said, yes they can ask for it back, although you might be able to negotiate paying it in instalments, and ask them for evidence that the overpayment did happen, as well (or check the payslip).

KiKi

Gerson2k

emma.cook3 wrote: »

They don't seem to be trying very hard to get the wages right. Almost everyone I asked had to payback wages from the council.

One has to ask why none of these people ever checked their wage slips or bank accounts to notice the over payment(s)?

emma.cook3

Thanks for all your support

James1968

All you need to do is speak with someone in either HR or Payroll and ask them to check your wages were correctly calculated and paid.