Duplicate Salary Payment - Where do I stand?

Iandb0812

Not too sure if this belongs in here, hopefully some of you can help me out.

Bascially the situation is that back in September a number of employees where I work received a duplicate salary payment and a number (not sure exactly how many) of them, including me, have not repaid it.

The issue is even more complicated by the fact that this has been done by the payroll agency??? and our comopanies old bank who they have not used for a few years.

There has been a few emails internally about this asking for it to be repaid etc and in one of the emails our Finance boss has basically said it is nothing to do with the company.

However he then turned up at my desk yesterday with an email from either the old bank or the payroll company and then proceeded to tell me the contents of the email and that the matter was being passed to lawyers etc as it was theft.

Can any one give any input obn legalities on all the this especially the ponts below:

1. Is there not a whole Data Protection breach here if the old bank still has our details, which has resulted in this mess.
2. Does it have to be paid back.
3. Is it considered theft? I never took it they gave it to us??
4. How about being informed of the current state at my desk not so quietly so others in the vicinity could here. Any grounds for complaint here internally

I know of at least 2 people who have spent the money. I still have it in an account for the reason of having to repay it, but coould I turn round and say that it was swallowed up by my overdraft and I no longer have it. My income is £xxx and my outgoings are £YYY so I can pay back £10 a month etc

Thanks
Ian

molerat

1) Not sure, depends on the relationship with the bank.
2) Yes
3) Possibly, retaining money that you know does not belong to you, but normally a civil debt.
4) Again depends on how much everyone else in the office already knows.

Jox

If you had paid for something twice you would want one of the payments to be refunded wouldn't you?

Karma might be a b*tch!

meer53

Why lie if you have the money and can repay it ?

You could have prevented your boss from discussing it at your desk by replying to the earlier email asking for it to be repaid, instead of ignoring it.

You seem to have made the problem worse, i'm sure any internal complaint would say the same.

cockaleekee

Are you happy to lose your job over this? This is likely to be a breach of mutual trust and confidence, which may be deemed gross misconduct.

ILW

It is theft, you know it was a mistake, they have asked for it back and you are refusing. You could end having to pay their legal fees and recovery costs.

meer53

cockaleekee wrote: »

Are you happy to lose your job over this? This is likely to be a breach of mutual trust and confidence, which may be deemed gross misconduct.

Spot on. Where i work, if someones honesty and integrity is in question, there would be grounds for dismissal for gross misconduct.

The OP should have a good read of their contract.

MamaMoo_2

You knew you received it in error. You knew it wasn't yours to spend. Keeping it is theft.
Put it this way, you go to the shop, buy a stamp, pay with a £20 and the shop says "you can't have any change. You gave me £20"
Or you're shopping online. You buy a nice new TV for £1000. You accidentally press the "complete payment" button twice and the website takes your payment twice. Would you be happy for them to keep that money as it was your own fault for making the error? Or would you be happy to be paid back in tiny 1% instalments?
Don't play the fool here. This is not your money.

Exile_geordie

Some people are just stoopid to ask a question like this on a forum. And the others are even more mad for spending it!!

They would be spitting feathers if they didnt get paid but seem to think being paid twice is ok to keep it

unholyangel

MamaMoo wrote: »

You knew you received it in error. You knew it wasn't yours to spend. Keeping it is theft.
Put it this way, you go to the shop, buy a stamp, pay with a £20 and the shop says "you can't have any change. You gave me £20"

Its been said on here quite a few times that technically, it would be legal for a shop to refuse to give change - just its extremely unlikely to happen. Technically its up to the customer to offer the correct amount.

As for the OP....are you paid a set amount every month? If so, I dont see how there is any way possible you could argue that you reasonably thought this money was not paid in error. And if i remember correctly, the employment rights act allows the employer to deduct from your wages, any overpayment in wages.

So imo you would be wise to sort it out now rather than discover its been deducted from a pay at some point when you least expect it.

halibut2209

It's a civil matter. It is not theft.