Money Moral Dilemma: Should I give my employer the compensation for my delay?

Fitzmichael

Your argument is right: the money is meant to compensate the passenger for the inconvenience. I pride my self on old-fashioned honesty: keep the money. If you told your employer, I think they'd be surprised and, if they asked you for it, I'd be amazed.

tain

DomRavioli wrote: »

Nobody cares. These are getting more and more stupid every time.

Give it a rest. You people troll these dilemmas every week, trying to be the first to say something negative.

This is actually a genuine difficult dilemma for me, and an excellent example of where something really isn't clear cut.

So bore off and waste your time trolling elsewhere.

tain

Ok so this dilemma comes up in my work very often! But with a few extra caveats that make it more taxing...

• I work for a national charity and travel a lot for work. So if there is even an inkling that the refund is meant for the person who bought the ticket, I'd be essentially taking money from the charity, not some faceless big corporate who doesn't care.
  
• If the train is REALLY late, I'd get some time off in lieu to make up (like coming in an hour or so later). This probably wouldn't be for the entire time I lost, but it's still a consideration.
  
• We have a work train booking account, so would the refund go directly back to the card used to book? I always thought it did, so I've never pursued a refund in the past, as my boss said the additional paperwork for us and the Finance department would write off anything we gained.

orsat

Keep it. You were inconvenienced NOT your company

CCP

Assuming the £50 is compensation for the delay then I can't see any reason why you shouldn't keep it; as others have said, it was your time that was wasted not the company's, so why should they be compensated for your inconvenience? If it is a refund of the price of the ticket, though, and the company paid for the ticket (i.e. you didn't pay with the intention of claiming the cost back as expenses), I would go for asking your line manager or finance person what they think, as they may feel the refund should go back to them. (Or they might decide to let you keep it to make up for the inconvenience caused to you.)

A few years ago I was travelling on business and my train was involved in a crash, which resulted in a delay of many, many hours (I didn't arrive at my destination until 1 in the morning, having set out at lunchtime on what was meant to be a 3 hour journey :eek:). The train operator refunded the cost of the ticket - I asked if my employer wanted it back but was told that the money couldn't be added back to the department's budget so I might as well keep it. The train operator then additionally sent me a free return ticket for anywhere on their network as compensation for the delay, so I ended up with £200+ free money, and a free train trip for personal use (although I also ended up with short-lived fear of going anywhere on a train in case it crashed again - I'm still not sure if it was worth it!).

tallgirld

It wasn't your company that was delayed. You were!


Therefore it's your compensation for your inconvenience.

happyinflorida

As it's quite a lot of money being given, then I would ask your boss first before assuming it is yours to keep - just in case.

I don't know the legal ramifications here but if your company has paid the money for the fare, they possibly have a claim to the compensation but as it was you who was suffering the delay and it is you who has bothered to make the claim, then I would think it fair for you to have the compensation but I don't know if this is legal or not and I would check with your boss to make sure!

lizbec

To be honest,I'm surprised you got £50. Whenever I've claimed,all I get is a voucher for another ticket!
I agree with most of the above - you were the one inconvenienced by the delay. As long as you don't also claim extra expenses and time off in lieu .......

Bristow

Oh for goodness sake. YOU were the one stressed out because you couldn't get to work on time. You are incredibly lucky that your employer pays for your ticket - I spent 15 years working in London having to pay for my ticket and getting stressed out because I could not get to work. If you are such a wimp that you worry about this, give the compensation to your employer. Otherwise keep it.

theoretica

Sharon87 wrote: »

Simple. Keep it, it was your time that was lost. It's like going abroad for work and earning air miles, or booking tickets through cash back sites and earning nectar point for work shopping. Something the employer doesn't think of doing and have no systems in place to do so. If my colleagues were delayed after I book them a train ticket, if they decide to try and get compensation then that's fine, it's their time used up in applying for it!

Same goes for flight delays

My work does have policies about airmiles and all other schemes they haven't mentioned - I can't remember the exact wording, but basically no benefitting financially or in kind from work, except of course the salary.