Wages overpayment advice

Northernmedic

Hello,

This is my first post, so please accept my apologies if its in the wrng area.

For the past two months, my employer has overpaid me, by a total of approxametly £500.

Is there any legislation/employment law, which prevents my employer from deducting that amount from my wages in one lump sum...as i have a mortgage and bills to pay!

Hopefully, someone can help me, and again I apologise.

Thank you

londonchap

No, there is no legislation regarding the recovery of overpayments. Since you have been paid money which is not yours, your employer is entitled to it back (unless you can show that you changed your position in good faith as a result of receiving the money). I'd talk to your employer about it asap and try to negotiate staged repayments/deductions.

ovetta2001

it doesnt matter if you have bills to pay. you know you are being overpaid so you kept it from them!!

Northernmedic

My employer was informed of the overpayment as soon as i recieved my wage slip (on pay day). They continued to over pay me for another month, and was informed again.

I have informed them all the way about the overpayment, and they've taken no action as of yet...so I haven't kept the information from them.

But thank you for your comment.

Northernmedic

Thats a helpful reply, thank you for that.
I've informed my employer, but i'm awaiting a reply from them.

cazziebo

It would be very unfair of your employer to deduct the sum from you at the one time.

I was overpaid in one job, and raised it (thankfully by letter which I could then produce) to my (useless) boss who told me she had managed to get me a pay rise. 6 months later a letter from HR wanting to see me to discuss repaying the overpayment! :eek: Because I could prove I had raised it immediately they reduced what I had to pay by about 30%.

So although there aren't any laws protecting you then it would be poor practice to deduct it wholesale and would not help you feel good about the employer and increase your commitment.

And before any more criticism comes - if this had happened to me last year I would probably have spent it too. Thanks to MSE I've got a much tighter control on my finances so would now have the forethought to put it to the side. You were honest - many people would not have been.

jobbingmusician

And more advice - assume you will have to repay it, and put as much money as you can towards it into a high interest account. That way you can feel that it is getting ready to be paid back (you will find you sleep better ) and you can earn some interest on it in the mean time (after all, it was their mistake!)

Hint: you could put it into an account which requires a bit of notice to get hold of the money - most employers would not mind waiting for a withdrawal period if you told them that you had put the money into a notice-period account 'just in case'

barvid

If you keep it in a separate account, it shouldn't matter if it's all deducted in one lump sum because your reduced salary for that month plus the savings should equal what you should have been paid anyway.

liney

Go to payroll and make arrangement to pay it back in installments. They will probably agree, however why did you spend it knowing it wasn't yours? tut tut.

swinterton

I have left my old employment last month, but they have paid me again this month. any suggestions what i should do.?

dmg24

swinterton wrote: »

I have left my old employment last month, but they have paid me again this month. any suggestions what i should do.?

Contact them and arrange to pay it back ... before they contact you!