Overpayment - please check my figures!

tomatoandcheese

Hi all,

First day of maternity leave today and I was given my May paycheck before leaving yesterday (after a full day's work). When I opened it at home, I instantly realised I had been overpaid - had full month's salary for May at full pay, plus two weeks' of SMP. I emailed our Finance Manager to alert him, as I don't want to count that money into my budget only to have it reclaimed later.

He's replied to say I've definitely been overpaid and he will recover it from my June paycheck (which is fine as long as I know what is coming in when). BUT his calculation for how much I've been overpaid by runs as follows:

"There are 23 working days in May and you worked 11 of them from 1st to 15th May inclusive. Your basic salary element for the month should have been £1,300.08 / 23 x 11 = £621.78. You were therefore overpaid by £1,300.08 - £ 621.78 = £678.30"

The thing is I work part-time. 3 days a week - Mon, Tues, and Thurs. So I believe the correct calculation should have been 14 working days in May (Thurs of final week being 1 June) and I worked 7. Basic salary should have been £1300.08 / 14 * 7 = £650.04 so overpayment of £650.04.

Can anyone check for me if I am right before I query with him?

Thanks in advance!

jobbingmusician

His calculation is obviously total BLX as your £1300 is obviously a monthly part time salary. He has calculated it as if £1300 is a FT salary.

Run him through a reality check. 15th May is halfway through the month, therefore you obviously earned approx 50% of your normal monthly salary, plus any applicable SMP to cover the other half.

tomatoandcheese

Good I'm not nuts then. Will point this out to him! Does make me concerned for being paid correctly for the next 6 months...

moneysaver242

His calculations could be correct. There is no standard way to calculate daily payments for salary staff, and depends on your employer.
He's divided your part-time salary by total days in the month, but he's also paid you for days you ordinarily might not work.
You FT salary would be £2,167, so / 23 x 7 = £659.52

The earlier method is less favourable for you, because of the days of the week you work, but it's perfectly acceptable as long as they are consistent in their calculations for all staff.

You could contact them to see if they would reconsider, but if they calculate everyone in this manner they will have to stick by it to ensure consistency.

paddyrg

As you work a 60% week, perhaps suggest you do the calculation in hours per regular month and in May? It removes the confusion about days, working days, etc.