Overpaid During Sick Leave

jdoc86

Ok so a little back story first.

My employer offers full pay for up to 6 months from the date you stop turning in for work (minus any previous instances of sick pay you have already had).

I first reported sick on 21 November 2016, however a clerical error somewhere within the business had this recorded as 7 January 2017. This meant that whilst my sick pay should have ended on 8 June 2017, I was paid up to 26 July 2017. An over payment of just under £3,000.00. I was notified of this in writing by my employer with a letter dated 17 August 2017. This letter went on to advise the over payment would be taken from my future wages once I returned to work..

Now I fully accept that I need to repay the overpaid sum as I was not entitled to it, my employer has taken the full amount of my wage for the month of September (I returned to work on 4 September).

The letter they issued to me advised me that my line manager had been made aware of the over payment and I should speak to them if I had any issues and they would support me. nowhere in this letter did it state any proposed repayment agreement.

When I first returned to work I asked my manager about this and she had no idea that I had been overpaid or that I had been sent this letter. She advised me she would look into this and get back to me, however she has been on scheduled annual leave as she is on her honeymoon.

I was meant to be paid today and have bills which need to be paid. An incident has been raised with payroll but they say it could take 48 hours for them to resolve, baring in mind it is a weekend, this will mean Tuesday at the earliest for a response.

My question is, has my employer broken the law by taking the full amount in one go with no agreement from me for them to do this?

z1a

Why didn't you save the over payment?

Tigsteroonie

jdoc86 wrote: »

(I returned to work on 4 September).

The letter they issued to me advised me that my line manager had been made aware of the over payment and I should speak to them if I had any issues ...

When I first returned to work I asked my manager about this and she had no idea that I had been overpaid or that I had been sent this letter.

So presumably you got the letter on 4 or shortly after 4 September. Did that letter say how they were going to deduct the over-payment?

You asked your line manager to investigate. Your LM is now on holiday. Did you ask for an update before she left, or have you personally asked for an update from your payroll when you realised she'd gone on honeymoon without giving you their answer?

I think you've been a little lax in not following this up yourself, or asking for specifics of how it would be deducted.

eschaton

jdoc86 wrote: »

I was meant to be paid today and have bills which need to be paid.

Can't you use the extra £3k? I'm guessing that you wouldn't have spent it when you weren't entitled to it?

jdoc86

To clarify, the over payment was made over the course of two months, the first for the full amount i would usually get and the second month until the date they stopped paying me sick pay. They issued an SSP1 form stating my sick pay had expired on 27 July and then a subsequent SSP1 form stating it ended on 8 June.

I do not have any of the funds left as I used these to pay my bills - as I would with any other monthly income. I was not made aware that I had been overpaid until 17 August, by which point I was in receipt of benefits as my sick pay had expired at the end of July.

My problem is not like most, who have been paid for hours they knew they didn't work, As far as I was concerned I was in receipt of my entitled employee benefits, so had no reason to question the amount I was being paid and whether I should spend it.

Also, i am not disputing I will need to repay my employer but surely they cannot take my entire monthly wage without notifying me of that fact?

I have today spoken with my Operations Lead who has also confirmed that there has been no notification to them, from Payroll about this over payment and they were not aware of it until I had brought it up with my manager.

As I work from home, I was not aware my manager was going on annual leave until after she had already gone.

jdoc86

If i had £3 sat in an account, I wouldn't have been entitled to claim ESA or Housing Benefit after my employer stopped paying me - as I would have £3k to pay it regardless of knowledge that i had been overpaid by my employer, but, again, I was not aware that I had been paid 'sick' hours which I was not entitled to until after the funds were gone.

eschaton

jdoc86 wrote: »

To clarify, the over payment was made over the course of two months, the first for the full amount i would usually get and the second month until the date they stopped paying me sick pay. They issued an SSP1 form stating my sick pay had expired on 27 July and then a subsequent SSP1 form stating it ended on 8 June.

I do not have any of the funds left as I used these to pay my bills - as I would with any other monthly income. I was not made aware that I had been overpaid until 17 August, by which point I was in receipt of benefits as my sick pay had expired at the end of July.

My problem is not like most, who have been paid for hours they knew they didn't work, As far as I was concerned I was in receipt of my entitled employee benefits, so had no reason to question the amount I was being paid and whether I should spend it.

Also, i am not disputing I will need to repay my employer but surely they cannot take my entire monthly wage without notifying me of that fact?

I have today spoken with my Operations Lead who has also confirmed that there has been no notification to them, from Payroll about this over payment and they were not aware of it until I had brought it up with my manager.

As I work from home, I was not aware my manager was going on annual leave until after she had already gone.

Did you not think that 21st November to 26th July was more than 6 months?

takman

jdoc86 wrote: »

I do not have any of the funds left as I used these to pay my bills - as I would with any other monthly income.

So what would you have done to pay your bills if they had correctly paid your wages during this period?. Why did you not plan ahead when you first went off sick and work out when you would stop receiving full pay?

Also the fact that you seem to use spend every penny you get in wages each month shows you have a severe problem your finances. Why are you not saving an amount each month to build up an emergency fund?.

Take this situation as a warning that you need to seriously sort out your finances. You need to sit down and work out a budget and plan to save some money each month to build up an emergency fund.

Try posting your SOA (statement of affairs) on the debt free wannabe board and they will help you sort out your finances before its too late.

IAmWales

jdoc86 wrote: »

If i had £3 sat in an account, I wouldn't have been entitled to claim ESA or Housing Benefit after my employer stopped paying me - as I would have £3k to pay it regardless of knowledge that i had been overpaid by my employer, but, again, I was not aware that I had been paid 'sick' hours which I was not entitled to until after the funds were gone.

You would have been entitled to ESA and HB with £3K in an account.

Like others I cannot work out how you didn't know that you had exhausted your sick pay entitlement. I wonder if you would have noticed if they had paid you too little.

jdoc86

RE savings - i have not long since moved from London and my wage is used to support 2 people as my partner does not work and who isn't entitled to any benefits as I earn too much/work to many hours (depending on which benefit they attempt to claim). As we have recently moved, additional money received was used to sort out the essentials needed to furnish the new house - previous accommodation came furnished.

RE Length of illness: forgive me for not monitoring how long I had been off whilst I was attempting to recover from an illness

I also pay my employer every month for an income protection insurance which pays out if I exhaust my sick pay and I had submitted a claim with them for this, therefore when my pay dropped a little in June, I assumed this was the insurance kicking in, however found out later this was not the case - but that's a different issue.

lakes17

It doesn't take much to work out how long 6 months is from November - even if you are ill. And as someone else has already pointed out you would have noticed straight away if they had only paid you 4 months before stopping your sick pay.