Real-life MMD: Should I let my brother pay staff twice?

telsco

There is no way of knowing that the employee isn't deliberately giving people a sense that he is financially hard up (unless you are his personal accountant too).
What he says to work colleagues and what his true financial worth is could be two very different things.
It needs to be paid back.

ps If I owned a company, I would never allow you anywhere near my company accounts as you've shown you cannot be trusted.

milvusvestal

The first question you should ask yourself is how on earth you managed to pay the same employee twice, but not anyone else on the payroll. The next question to need to address is your moral code, irrespective of how the employee concerned is apparently short of money.

OK, so you do the salaries and wages voluntarily to help your brother out, and the business is doing well - but that has no bearing on the situation, and has nothing whatever to do with the twice-paid employee's situation, either. The plain fact is that he's been given money he's not entitled to, and you should therefore come clean and ask for it back. Tell your brother about your mistake, and what you've done to remedy it. He can hardly chatise you, as an unpaid helper, can he? If he relieves you of your voluntary duties, he'd have to pay someone to do the job.

My experience of many people claiming to be hard up is that they either cannot or will not budget properly, and consequently spend money on all the wrong things. This employee could be one such but, whether he's secretly wealthy, or destitute, matters not one iota. He's received more than he should get, and should be asked to repay.

alexgolf54

It is not your business, but your brother's business & your brother's money. It is up to your brother to decide whether the employee should keep the money or pay it back.

sultryabyss

I'd tell him, the guy should have come clean himself. Not a very honest employee is it!

janiebquick

I don't think you can let this pass. You need to point out the error to the employee, but you could also ask him if there's anything you can do to help his financial situation.

judy7007

Has to be reported. No dilemma.

Augustus_the_Strong

The employee must know he's been paid twice, and should be asked to return the money (or stop next month's payment).

But the real question is, if your brother's firm is doing so well partly thanks to your astute book-keeping, how about his paying you something for your services? Don't be a mug.

caroline_2

1 course of action only, honesty, but with compassion. Cannot expect a hard up employee to pay back more than, say, £10 a month though.

mr-tom_2

I think that to knowingly keep quiet would be an abuse of the trust your brother has placed in you. That said, the trick here is not to address the individual occurrences, but rather to fix the faulty process that allows them to happen in the first place.

TBagpuss

I agree with the majorioty of the previous posters. You have to tell your brother, for a number of easons:

1. You have a duty, if you are dealing with the accounts, to deal with them honestly and accurately.
2. It is not your company, or your money. It is not your decision to make as to whether this employee should get an unexpected bonus.
3. You need to get to the bottom of how the error occured, to make sure it can't happen again.

I disagree with those saying you should speak first to the employee, or work out a payment plan with him. You don't have the authority to forgive the debt or to agree a repayment schedule.

What you *can* do is *ask* your brother whether he is willing for you to negotiate with the employee.

I don't think the employee is necessarily dishonest. While I can't imagine overlooking a double payment, especially if I were in difficulties financially, but a lot of people don't check their bank statements, and it's not uncommon for people with financial problems to bury their heads in the sand and ignore all financial documents in the hopes it will all go away.