Previous employer says I owe them money

loni123

Hi

I hope this is the right place to post/that somebody can help me. I'm beginning to feel like I'm up against a brick wall with this. Apologies that this may be a long story, I'll try and keep it as short as possible.

In my previous employment I suffered badly with anxiety and stress and had some time off work due to this before eventually leaving on the 31st October 2016. I received my final payslip in November with a £0.00 balance as due to the time I'd had off in October this counteracted against any holiday pay etc they owed me. That seemed right to me and I left it there.

Come February 2017 I received a letter from my old company which stated i owed them £756 due to an overpayment in my final wage. Considering my final wage was £0 I couldn't see how this could be. This letter also advised that they were passing on my details to Zinc Debt Management.

I got in touch with the companies payroll/HR team and began a long battle of back and forth which I won't go into. This battle ended in them stating that the overpayment was due to absence on the following dates:

1st - 12th September, 19th September, 26th september, 28th - 30th september 8-31st October.

I disputed this as I felt despite it being a while ago I would remember essentially having an entire month off work. I spoke to ACAS and they explained that it was down to my old company to prove that I was absent during those dates. I went back to the company and advised that though I potentially may owe some money as I was unsure after all this time the exact dates I was in work, I would like proof of those days off. The examples I gave as per ACAS' advice was sick notes (I would need these for that much time off), logs of calls (I worked in a call centre so all calls were logged and recorded), or even the reports from me swiping in and out of reception everytime I came in or out of the building. The company advised they would look into this and get back to me, this was on the 10th march.

Today I received an email advising that they had completed their investigation. Their advice was that the only data they had found was that I worked a part day on the 20th September, they attached this report for this 1 day and stated that as they don't deduct for part days absence this would make no difference to the amount they originally said I owed. Now there are a couple of things wrong with this.

Firstly the 20th was not down as a date of absence on the original email they sent with the breakdown (as above).

Secondly, they have stated that on the 19th & 26th of September I owe them money as I only worked a part day. Yet now I am shown as working a part day they are advising this will make no difference to the amount owed. Surely it should?

Thirdly, they have not provided evidence that I was not in work on the other days in September or any of the days in October yet this is what I originally asked for.

I have emailed back and requested that they provide me with the full reports for each month as proof but they just came back to me and advised that they want me to deal with the DCA going forward. I've spoken to the DCA and they have advised that they respect my dispute and will go back to my ex employer for further instruction. I am frankly at a loss of what to do. I don't want to pay the moment back without proof I was absent on those days as it feels like I'm giving away money that I genuinely don't think I owe, or at least don't owe all of it. But my ex employer isn't listening to what I'm asking for and I'm at the end of my tether. I left the company due to the stress and anxiety and now it's all coming back because of this. I would really appreciate any help and advice as I have no idea where to turn.

I should probably add as well that a friend who still works for the company got hold of my sales reports and I am recorded as making 32 calls and several sales on the 13th October which is a date when they are saying I was absent so I know for a fact that at least one day they have incorrectly stated I was absent when I wasn't.

Any help will be much appreciated! Thank you in advance.

sourcrates

Hi,

Can't be that difficult to know if you were at work on those dates or not surely ?

The company must keep records, time cards, time sheets etc pretty shoddy of them if they don't.

You can ignore the DCA, they are only under instruction from your old company, they do not have ownership of the debt, and cannot enforce anything against you.

Well if they say one thing, and you say another, you are in deadlock.

There's nothing much else you can do, if they choose to take you to court to recover the debt, they must produce evidence that you owe it, all you can do is continue to deny you owe them money and see what happens.

[Deleted User]

Go to CAB (Citizens Advice)

I'm aware of someone that managed to be over paid for just under 6 months, (not me) it would never have been picked up until the employer brought it up as was to do with the presentation of previous payslips so you can never be to sure, at first my friend was very upset, slightly different but sure think they got help from the CAB on the handling of such matters and ended up on a repayment plan whilst remaining in work. It was definitely a lesson not to rely on every payslip given as automatically correct.

Helvetica_Van_Buren

Hate to point this out but why would the company provide you with evidence that you were in work when they are claiming the opposite?

They need to prove you weren't in work, not that you were.

Overall:
- They claim something and they need to provide evidence to back-up their claim and/or you need to provide evidence to the contrary.

- If they provide no evidence of your absence then if it were me I'd inform them I'm not prepared to entertain their frivolous claim and I'll be submitting counter-invoices for every further letter they or their representatives send me.

EssexHebridean

Helvetica_Van_Buren wrote: »

Hate to point this out but why would the company provide you with evidence that you were in work when they are claiming the opposite?

They need to prove you weren't in work, not that you were.

Overall:
- They claim something and they need to provide evidence to back-up their claim and/or you need to provide evidence to the contrary.

- If they provide no evidence of your absence then if it were me I'd inform them I'm not prepared to entertain their frivolous claim and I'll be submitting counter-invoices for every further letter they or their representatives send me.

The OP has already said this:

I would like proof of those days off. The examples I gave as per ACAS' advice was sick notes (I would need these for that much time off), logs of calls (I worked in a call centre so all calls were logged and recorded), or even the reports from me swiping in and out of reception everytime I came in or out of the building.

National_Debtline

Hi Loni


It does sound like your former employer is making rather a mess of this matter and you've done the right think in consulting the likes of ACAS and requesting further justification of the amounts claimed.


Until such time as (if) this reaches court, it is essentially one party claiming they are owed money by another without any legal authority to back it up. You are right to expect the employer to produce relevant evidence to back up their claim rather than trying to insist that you must deal exclusively with Zinc.


Dennis
@natdebtline