Wage Overpayment Notice after Leaving Work

Influense

Talking it through on here has clarified some of this for me.

There is clearly a reason that Boots have chosen to pursue a dubious overpayment of leavers pay claim, It seems clear they have overpaid her (in their opinion) paying her the full rate of £8.20ph as opposed to a lesser rate of £4.60ph.

I suspect that is because they are fully aware that they never told her that her rate of pay was to be £4.60. No contract of employment or confirmation of an hourly rate was ever provided, as such the amount she received was legitimate under the assumption that the job paid £16,000 pa.

In order to rectify their error, they are wilfully being deceitful.

theoretica

One of the first things she needs to do is get them to send her a copy of her original payslip.

swingaloo

I think you are clutching at straws now.

It does not matter why she was overpaid, it is a mistake on their part but they are still legally entitled to the money back.

In all honesty I would think that when you saw the amount she had been paid both you and your daughter would have had a WOW moment as it should have been clear that a mistake had been made for a 17 year old to earn so much for so few hours.

It should also have been clear that a job advertised at 16,000pa was not going to be something a 17 years old was likely to earn. Presumably she was not the only teenage temp taken on for the Christmas period? Has she checked with any of the others as to how much they got?

getmore4less

How many weeks and hours did she work?
What was she paid?

Fixed term contracts do not need notice if known in advance what the end date will be, if still working past the end date notice is required.

DoctorStrange

I’m not buying the “overpayment of leavers pay” argument. It seems to me that they’ve paid an over-18s wage and have now realised that they should (could?) have paid less so have an invented an argument that they processed 162 hours of notice rather than 37.5.

I’d reply saying that you cannot confirm any overpayment without a copy of the payslip but, by your calcs, the pay looks fine.

By including the advertised rate of pay in your calcs you’re putting the onus back on them to prove the contract was for the lower rate - and remember a contract doesn’t have to be written...

Manxman_in_exile

DoctorStrange wrote: »

I’m not buying the “overpayment of leavers pay” argument. It seems to me that they’ve paid an over-18s wage and have now realised that they should (could?) have paid less so have an invented an argument that they processed 162 hours of notice rather than 37.5.

I’d reply saying that you cannot confirm any overpayment without a copy of the payslip but, by your calcs, the pay looks fine.

By including the advertised rate of pay in your calcs you’re putting the onus back on them to prove the contract was for the lower rate - and remember a contract doesn’t have to be written...

I think Boots may have cocked this up. I'd supply my own calculation based on their advertised pay rate (OP - does your daughter have a copy of the original advert?*) and I'd also challenge them that their current explanation makes no sense and their numbers don't add up.


I think I agree with most of the others here that there probably has been an overpayment and that Boots are entitled to claim it back - however, I'd want to make them work for it and I'd want a more transparent explanation from them as to how it's arisen.


If it were me, I wouldn't pay up until I understood their calculation. Despite what some others have said, I don't think providing a wrong explanation for an overpayment is the same thing as establishing an overpayment has occurred. If their calculation and explanation makes no sense to either you or your daughter, I'd want more information to justify the reclaim. I'm not suggesting you and your daughter do this (I suspect she'll end up having to repay it) but I think I'd want more info.


If they have cocked up, they just might decide not to pursue it...


* I hope the advert doesn't say something like "£16,000 pa or age-appropriate NMR."

General_Grant

Manxman_in_exile wrote: »

. . . ...


* I hope the advert doesn't say something like "£16,000 pa or age-appropriate NMR."

or ~"up to £16,000 pa"

dollywops

Just out of curiosity, did you make contact, and if so what was the response?

pinkshoes

If the job was advertised at £16k per annum, the 6 weeks she worked tallied with a pro rata of this salary, and she was not informed she would be paid less than this, then I would write back with a copy of the advert, a calculation of her pay based on this, and state that as per the advert she was paid correctly.