Over pay situation - any advice?

Mumraaa

Yes ok well I will have to go over this with my dad as he is not here right now...I have just seen a pay slip and it is a bit confusing allot of them have pay and then protected pay and nothing in the rate or hours /unit columns.

@tiddly Yes but of course if the recipient has made a mistake it is his fault if its the employer its the employer and if its both its both but this is the employer so really it should be their responsibility! My dad never had anything wrong in 30 years so he had stopped checking closely its true. And yes I know its the law I just feel its wrong sharing or paying for someone else's mistake does sound a bit strange no? If he were underpayed again that would be their mistake in most cases and yes you should get the money back for their mistake. Anyway like I said almost over I will report anything if it is relevant.

Tiddlywinks

My point was simple:

An employee should know his hourly rate. Then, he can multiply that by the number of hours and make a comparison... why was this not possible for your father?

The employer was at fault for the incorrect calculations BUT it is reasonable to expect an employee to make a check of a wage slip as well.

Mumraaa

Yes I saw your point before no need to repeat...was just talking out side the situation...anyway yes I'm still finding out...the payslip does have some strange stuff not sure what protected pay is yet and like I say no hours our rates...

lakes17

Mumraaa wrote: »

" but this is the employer so really it should be their responsibility! And yes I know its the law I just feel its wrong sharing or paying for someone else's mistake does sound a bit strange no? If he were underpayed again that would be their mistake in most cases and yes you should get the money back for their mistake.

I agree with tiddleywinks - it is a shared responsibility with regards to checking payslips etc!!! You seem to suggest that if it was an employer's error then it shouldn't have to be paid back, but if the employer's error was to underpay them then it should be rectified.

From experience of working in a HR/Payroll environment employees understood their payslip perfectly well when we had for what ever reason underpaid them and were immediately on the phone to inform us. However, if they had been overpaid there was not a word until it finally came to light and when informed we got the usual excuse that they don't check/can't understand payslips!!!

tomtontom

Protected pay usually refers to someone with a certain length of service moving to a lower grade for reasons outside of their control. It would not normally apply to a reduction in hours.

Mumraaa

I meant mainly that who ever made the error should take a hit like lose a percentage and it shouldn't be up to the employer weather they made an error or committed estoppel as pretty much no one is going to take that to court.

If the payslip it's clear I understand...hmm yes great idea lakes next time I'm over paid use the money until they realise I can see why they do it when the laws like this. But in an innocent case with a badly made payslip it's different. I just think it needs to be judged independently after all we are supposed to be living in a free and equal world cough cough lol...that was a joke of course that's not true.

tomtontom

Mumraaa wrote: »

I meant mainly that who ever made the error should take a hit like lose a percentage and it shouldn't be up to the employer weather they made an error or committed estoppel as pretty much no one is going to take that to court.

If the payslip it's clear I understand...hmm yes great idea lakes next time I'm over paid use the money until they realise I can see why they do it when the laws like this. But in an innocent case with a badly made payslip it's different. I just think it needs to be judged independently after all we are supposed to be living in a free and equal world cough cough lol...that was a joke of course that's not true.

Surely it is common sense that if you reduce your hours but your pay remains the same something is amiss?

Mumraaa

tomtontom wrote: »

Surely it is common sense that if you reduce your hours but your pay remains the same something is amiss?

Yes that sounds like an interesting situation who are you talking about?

Anyway like I said a few times now: I don't know everything yet still waiting to chat to him... think something like his hours were reduced and protected pay was added at the same time making to look correct were as it was 4 hours over plus pension things were added or started but that parts hazy not any point in talking just yet till I know sorry...

Lol just saw Maria Miller has a petition online at change.org : pay back fraudulent £45000 or resign...funny stuff.

lakes17

Mumraaa wrote: »

Yes that sounds like an interesting situation who are you talking about?

Anyway like I said a few times now: I don't know everything yet still waiting to chat to him... think something like his hours were reduced and protected pay was added at the same time making to look correct were as it was 4 hours over plus pension things were added or started but that parts hazy not any point in talking just yet till I know sorry...

Lol just saw Maria Miller has a petition online at change.org : pay back fraudulent £45000 or resign...funny stuff.

Tomtontom was talking about your father. I also think that you need to stop comparing it with Maria Miller as this is completely irrelevant to your fathers case. I also advise that it can be a hindrance rather than help when a third party (you) gets involved. I suggest you talk to your father and ask him to contact the payroll department and ask for them to givce him a complete breakdown of what he has been paid and what he should have been paid over the last 3 years. Has your father been told that it was a human error? Or are you just assuming that? If as you state the payslip is showing 11hrs but calculating 15hrs then could it not be a system error? A lot of Council's have over the last 4yrs or so replaced their payroll systems, which in turn caused a lot of errors etc until it was fully functional. I also belive that your father should take some of the responsibility in the overpayment happening as in 1 of your posts you state that he hadn't bothered checking his payslips as he'd been there over 30yrs. And in reply to your comment on my post - yes people often didn't bother telling us of an overpayment and claimed ignorance when we finally caught up with them!!! It is something I never agreed with because at the end of the day this overpayment is taxpayers money that they are affecting.

Takeaway_Addict

Mumraaa wrote: »

I meant mainly that who ever made the error should take a hit like lose a percentage and it shouldn't be up to the employer weather they made an error or committed estoppel as pretty much no one is going to take that to court.

If the payslip it's clear I understand...hmm yes great idea lakes next time I'm over paid use the money until they realise I can see why they do it when the laws like this. But in an innocent case with a badly made payslip it's different. I just think it needs to be judged independently after all we are supposed to be living in a free and equal world cough cough lol...that was a joke of course that's not true.

What you're saying is that if the employer makes the error in the favour of the employee then tough on the employer but if its in favour of the employer then tough on the employer. This is ridiculous.

It doesn't need to be independant, it needs to be the employer saying you owe this because of this and you then either agree with the figures or disagree.