Overpaid on maternity leave - how to respond?

ElizaSchuyler

Hi, I’d be very grateful for any advice please - first of all I’m aware it’s as much my duty to make sure I’m being paid the correct amount on mat leave and I’m also aware my employer is legally entitled to recover any overpaid salary. That said, I’m so cross about how it’s been handled and I’d like some advice on how to word my response.

In a nutshell - due to an HR mess up I’ve been overpaid by 6 weeks’ salary while on mat leave. This has only just been uncovered as I officially returned to work on 1st Oct and didn’t get paid at the end of the month, so phoned HR in a panic. They apologised, said there had been a mistake and they would arrange a BACS transfer asap (I returned slightly earlier than planned so they thought the paperwork hadn’t been done in time to get me back on the payroll).

I’ve now been informed in a somewhat sheepish email that this was not a mistake - actually I’ve been overpaid and will in fact receive no wages at all for Oct. I’ll also have approx £320 taken out of my Nov wages to cover the remaining amount owing. I only take home around £1200 net as I work p/t.

It all seems to have been done automatically by the payroll system; I don’t think they’d even have informed me or given me any official notice had I not queried it with them.

The mess up came about as my son arrived 6 weeks early in v traumatic fashion, and they missed the paperwork from my boss informing them that I had gone on mat leave early. As a result I got 6 weeks’ extra full pay as my mat leave pay didn’t officially start until my expected due date.

My baby was in special care for a while and had other health issues requiring hospital appts for the first 6 months, so I can’t really say I was paying much attention to how much I was being paid - I do accept this is my fault.

I luckily have some savings left and my husband is covering the extra shortfall (much higher earner) so we’re v fortunate that this isn’t the end of the world financially - however, with it being so close to Christmas we could have easily been in serious trouble, esp as we’ve already had our first nursery bill.

They’ve been so blase about it in their emails, I really want to make a complaint about how it’s been handled but don’t know if I’d have a leg to stand on. Is this just par for the course, to tell someone they’re not going to be paid at all, with no notice or discussion? Employer is a local authority if that makes any difference).

Thanks in advance for reading

TELLIT01

You effectively received your pay in advance of the due date, so you have been paid all you are due. As you have said, you do have a responsibility to check. Not noticing one weeks worth of overpayment is understandable, but not noticing 6 weeks extra pay (and apparently spending the extra) is harder to accept as accidental.

jobbingmusician

Your employer made a mistake. If you were short of money, I would be advising you to ask them it was possible to repay the money over a longer period of time, to allow you enough money to eat in the mean time. Since you don't need this, what do you expect to happen? It seems to me it is not worth rocking the boat and making a fuss if the immediate repayment is not putting you in a difficult position. They will already have you down as someone who doesn't report it when they are overpaid - with any luck they will put this down to the fact that this was a stressful time for you. I don't actually feel that they have the responsibility for treating you with kid gloves to recover this overpayment (although, as I say, a good employer would respond well to a staff member who explained that rapid repayment would leave them in a difficult position).

Blatchford

I agree with all the comments previously but.... As far as I can see the employer has acted unlawfully and a local authority should not be doing so. With the exception of a final wage, recovery of monies due should not take anyone below the national living wage level, so taking the whole a one payment and most of another is not acceptable. I don't agree that it is being blas! about it in their communication - from the point of view of a large employer with diverse functions, basically you have a member of staff who is just doing their job and that job is just to make the wages bill balance, and doing that with lots of people. They made a mistake and mistakes happen. But in the end, no matter what your very good reasons are, and they are good reasons, you didn't notice you were being overpaid by a massive amount and spent that money. You also made a mistake and technically yours was just as big.

However, on the principle of the matter, it doesn't matter to you but taking the whole of someone's wage is wrong - not just ethically, but legally. So if you really want to make the point for others, that is what I would be saying. Not as a complaint, but more as a "something is wrong with the system, it has become broken and this is what could happen as a result". That way you are approaching it positively and may actually get some checks and balances in place that hep other people not be in the same position that you have been.

unforeseen

With the exception of a final wage, recovery of monies due should not take anyone below the national living wage level, so taking the whole a one payment and most of another is not acceptable.

It is allowed for overpayment of wages

https://www.gov.uk/understanding-your-pay/deductions-from-your-pay

ElizaSchuyler

Hi all, thanks for your responses,

As I said more than once in my OP, I accept it was my fault for not clocking that I received my full wage for 6 weeks’ longer than I should have. My query was more how to address the way it had been handled (mistake not being flagged, automatic withholding of a whole month’s pay with no notice, telling me I would be paid this week when that wasn’t the case).

Thankfully I have spoken to my boss to let her know and she has dealt with it on my behalf ; evidently there have been many other issues with the finance team since I’ve been off so this was the straw that broke the camel’s back. They have agreed to give me my Oct pay and arrange a payment plan for the amount owing.

ElizaSchuyler

So if you really want to make the point for others, that is what I would be saying. Not as a complaint, but more as a "something is wrong with the system, it has become broken and this is what could happen as a result". That way you are approaching it positively and may actually get some checks and balances in place that hep other people not be in the same position that you have been.

That is exactly the sort of advice I was after and is what I have said to my Boss. Apparently there was no way for her to double check mat pay on her financial systems either so she was unaware I’d been overpaid as well. She’s asked the finance team for some extra checks to be put in place for the future (not that I’m planning on doing this again!)