Overpayment of wages - promissory estoppel

Mooboo177

Hello, im looking for some help / advice as an ex-employer if trying to collect money for over-paid wages 2 years ago.
I worked for my ex employer, Sky TV back in 2018 and during my employment I changed my hours from full time to part time when I returned to uni. 

Everything at Sky was done via your manager and a portal; I submitted a flexible working request, this was then accepted by my manager who put in a request to amend my contractual hours & pay. You could view your rota / hours via the online rota system and after a few weeks my new part time hours were showing on my rota and my annual leave allowance had been adjusted. I assumed everything had been sorted. 

However, when I was paid my first part time pay it was higher than I expected (but still less than the full time wage I had before) so I asked my manager why and he explained it was pro rated down etc. and he checked the system and confirmed that my hours were adjusted so if thats what I was paid it would be correct. 

For the following 6 months I received the same pay each month. Then one month i checked my payslip and I had a £700 deduction. I immediately contacted my manager who said to call payroll. They advised me this was due to an overpayment of wages of over £3000 as I had still been being paid for more than my part time hours. Prior to this I had had no correspondence or information warning me, they simply just deducted my pay. I asked why no-one had told me and they said they had been in contact with my manager - quite useless to me as my manager had not passed on the messages! When I spoke with my manager about this they said they had not spoken to Payroll and openly checked their emails in front of me to prove this.

They then said they would amend my pay if I set up a payment plan to pay back the overpayment. I couldn't afford to not have the money that month so I agreed, as I assumed if I had been wrongly paid then I must pay this back. My payment plan was agreed and they would deduct this each month from my pay.

I made a couple of payments on my payment plan but then left Sky and have been working elsewhere for 2 years. Today I have received a letter from Zinc Credit Management advising they are working on behalf of Sky to recoup the remaining money (£2,300).

From researching online I have come across a protection clause called 'promissory estoppel' whereby you must meet the following criteria for qualify when defending the overpayment of wages;

1. That their employer made representations of fact that entitled them to believe that the sum if money overpaid was theirs; and
2. That the employee has “changed their position” (by spending some or all of the money) and in doing so acted in good faith and without notice that their employer wished to recoup the overpayment; and
3. That the employee was not primarily at fault for the mistake

To address each point; 

1. I was only informed of the overpayment via the one phone call I had to the payroll team. I have never received anything in writing confirming the amount owed until I received this Zinc letter.
2. My position has changed as I spent all the money at the time, in good faith, as I was led to believe this was my normal pay. I had no reason to question it when my system reflected my new hours, my rota reflected my hours, my annual leave entitlement reflected my new hours and my manager confirmed my pay was fine. I was also paid this for 6 months without being made aware this was wrong or that they wished to recoup the overpayment.
3. I was not at fault for the mistake, this was a payroll mistake.

So, can anyone help me on if I could feasibly fight this stating promissory estoppel? If so, would I be better to write directly to Sky and explain the above or do I contact Zinc? I understand that Zinc are just 'managing' the debt, they have not bought the debt so technically can I still communicate with Sky and not a the debt agency? 

Or... am I best to ignore the letters in the hope it may go away? They have also emailed me to say 'please contact us to discuss your options'.

I have read a lot online and most people say unless its a bailiff ignore the letters until you receive a 'letter before claim'. However, im a worrier and this is causing me a lot of stress. It would be interesting to hear others experiences to either put my mind at rest or guide me on what to do.

Thank you in advance for any help & advice given.

Comms69

It's a criminal offence - enjoy the criminal conviction; or you know pay back what isnt yours...

steampowered

Promissory Estoppel only applies if you have an honest belief that the money was yours - i.e. the first of the three points in your post. 

The difficulty with claiming promissory estoppel in your case is that it sounds like you knew you were not getting paid correctly. It sounds like you realised the overpayment at the time and queried it with your manager. 

The best outcome here is convincing Sky to agree to a part payment or a payment plan. Ignoring this and burying your head in the sand won't make it go away. If you just ignore it you will eventually face court proceedings, which will just result in interest and added costs.

Personally, I would write back to Zinc claiming promissory estoppel. You should explain that your manager confirmed that your pay was correct and that, and that you no longer have the money. You could say you believe that promissory estoppel applies in your case and that you are prepared to make that case in court if needs be. However you could ask whether Sky would accept a payment plan or part-payment. 

For future reference, spending overpayments is a very silly thing to do. You should have put the extra money aside into a savings account so that it is available if needing to be paid back (and you can pocket the interest in the meantime). Financial self-discipline is a crucial life skill.

Marcon

steampowered said:

Personally, I would write back to Zinc claiming promissory estoppel. You should explain that your manager confirmed that your pay was correct and that, and that you no longer have the money. You could say you believe that promissory estoppel applies in your case and that you are prepared to make that case in court if needs be. However you could ask whether Sky would accept a payment plan or part-payment. 

Bad idea. Using legal jargon you don't really understand just makes you look silly - and an experienced debt collection agency like Zinc will spot it a mile off.

Mooboo177 said:

Everything at Sky was done via your manager and a portal; I submitted a flexible working request, this was then accepted by my manager who put in a request to amend my contractual hours & pay. You could view your rota / hours via the online rota system and after a few weeks my new part time hours were showing on my rota and my annual leave allowance had been adjusted. I assumed everything had been sorted. 

However, when I was paid my first part time pay it was higher than I expected (but still less than the full time wage I had before) so I asked my manager why and he explained it was pro rated down etc. and he checked the system and confirmed that my hours were adjusted so if thats what I was paid it would be correct. 

That's the issue here. You could easily do the sums for yourself and realise that the pro rating must be wrong.

If you're a worrier, you are setting yourself up for a long period of worry (and potential damage to your credit record) if you don't do something positive about getting this debt settled. 

getmore4less

£3k overpayment over 6months £500pm

Was that gross or net? 

What was the difference in hours? 

You get more net Prorata than the gross Prorata because of the Tax & NI

£500 excess would have been obvious from basic calculations. 

steampowered

Marcon said:

Bad idea. Using legal jargon you don't really understand just makes you look silly - and an experienced debt collection agency like Zinc will spot it a mile off.

What's your suggestion then - just to pay the full amount?

Part payments and payment plans are often offered in this sort of situation. "Don't ask don't get" !

ffacoffipawb

Are they expecting you to pay the gross or net of tax (and NI) figure here?

The tax issue makes this a nightmare I think?

Xbigman

When you agreed a payment plan whilst employed by Sky you admitted the debt. You now have to pay it. Offer Zinc a payment plan and go from there. 


Darren