Overpaid GMB union rates - Help Please

liam8282

I don't think is the correct board, but couldn't really find a suitable one, so here goes:

My mother has realised that she has been overpaying her GMB union rates. She has been paying the full time - grade 1 rate, but she should only have been paying the part time - grade 2 rate.

This may have been going on for upto 19 years!

Now that she has realised what does she need to do about it?

Should she contact her employer and get them to first of all take the correct rates.

But is there anyway she can reclaim the overpayment from the previous years, or at least a fraction of them?

Any help, very much appreciated.

agrinnall

Yes, tell the employer to amend the deduction before she is next paid.

She will need to contact GMB about reclaiming the historic overpayment.

liam8282

Thanks for the reply, I have emailed GMB on her behalf, I will tell her to make sure her work amend the rate ASAP.

ohreally

Are you having good luck with this?

I'm guessing a positive outcome will depend on why she's on the wrong rate.

KayJay

If the subs are deducted from her salary by payroll, then usually they will refund them the same way in case of an overpayment, through wages. It's easy to tick the wrong salary box on an application form, but payroll usually check it.


She should have no problem getting a refund. It's happened with our branch (we are UNISON) and we have refunded the member.

liam8282

Ok an update on this:

When I contacted the union, they did not have any recorded hours, which is why she was on the full time, instead of part time rate.

I don't know how or why that was, but my mum is not the sort of person to question things like this, she will have just signed up and expected the union or whoever responsible, to have everything right in the first place.

Only yesterday, my mum received a letter stating that the union has contacted payroll to adjust her rate to the correct part time rate. They also enclosed a refund of the difference between full time and part time, for the previous year only, about £60, stated as an offer in their letter.

The thing is this has been going on for much longer and personally as it is a union, I would expect them to do the right thing and refund the total overpayment. I don't think that is being unreasonable.

I am going to write a letter in response to the union, basically rejecting their offer of the last year refund and request that they refund the total overpayment.

KayJay - could you give me any pointers as to what happened with the overpayment refund in your union?

agrinnall

Is she able to provide proof that she only worked part time for the previous years? If she can it would strengthen her case for a refund.

liam8282

I am not sure what she does with old wage slips etc, or if she would keep them going back that far, because she doesn't really have any reason to do so.

But, I suppose it wouldn't be that much of a problem if she needed proof, obtaining something from her payroll department at work.

At this stage it seems just to be getting some correspondence going with the union and finding out what their thoughts on the matter are.

ohreally

Your mothers subscription rate would have been indicated on the membership form at the time of completion, could she have made an error?

If subs are collected through check-off there may be a possibility the employer has cokced up, this is not at all unusual - be mindful of this possibility before you weigh in.

liam8282

^ I am aware that an error could have been made by any party involved here, and it isn't a matter of blaming anybody or anything like that.

However, when I contacted the union, they actually told me no hours were recorded. So it seems the default of the union, is to put people onto the full rate, rather than find out the actual hours and put them onto the correct rate.

This is just a case of, we have now noticed this error and as it is between a union and one of it's member, you would think that the right thing to do, would be to just work out the overpayment and repay it.

I know my mother won't have actively sought to join the union, she will have been advised or asked to join, either by her work or the union themselves. I am not exactly sure how this all works, but she will have just gone along with what she was told to do.

To me, it seems all to similar to all of the misselling type practices that are in the media so much lately.

I have now written a letter to the union declining their offer of a one year refund of the difference, and requesting that they work out the total overpayment and repay that. I have also requested that they investigate further, to find out how something like this could happen and for so long.

As I said, if this is standard practice, I am sure that my mother won't be the only person this has happened to and is still happening to now.

Buellguy

Well the union do have to have some way of paying it's general secretary £121,000 per year