Overpaid by a job I have left.

Undervalued

Hoenir said:

The OP has left the job and continued to be paid. A different scenario. 

And arguably one where the OP has fewer rights as there is not an ongoing relationship.

He has received money which he knows he is not entitled to. He has made one attempt to advise the former employer and should certainly repeat that, maybe writing to somebody more senior in the company.

I am sure the OP is not intending to do this but simply keeping quiet and hoping they will forget is not acceptable and potentially criminal.

stu12345_2

as father ted said "that money was just resting in my account"

as I explained acas must have put some sort of pressure on my payroll dep to allow me to pay of the overpayment in installments.

the woman involved, it was a one person payroll department never spoke to me again in passing, it had to be via email if I had any questions. never in her office. never by phonecall . she hated me.

she actually said to other workmates of mines of what had happened and it was meant to be private and confidential 

I stayed another year , I then felt I knew what this person was like, she's been there 20 years, what she said goes in her opinion, at was if it was her own money the way she reacted and her gossiping.
I'd only been there 5 years.

and it was time to move on and never return 

Steve1011

Undervalued said:

Hoenir said:

The OP has left the job and continued to be paid. A different scenario. 

And arguably one where the OP has fewer rights as there is not an ongoing relationship.

He has received money which he knows he is not entitled to. He has made one attempt to advise the former employer and should certainly repeat that, maybe writing to somebody more senior in the company.

I am sure the OP is not intending to do this but simply keeping quiet and hoping they will forget is not acceptable and potentially criminal.

I am not sure what criminal act I've committed by telling my previous employer I believe they have overpaid me. They responded that they were looking into it some weeks ago. Please do expand on my criminality?

I'm happy to pay it back, but I don't even have details of who or what account to pay it to. 

Undervalued

Steve1011 said:

Undervalued said:

Hoenir said:

The OP has left the job and continued to be paid. A different scenario. 

And arguably one where the OP has fewer rights as there is not an ongoing relationship.

He has received money which he knows he is not entitled to. He has made one attempt to advise the former employer and should certainly repeat that, maybe writing to somebody more senior in the company.

I am sure the OP is not intending to do this but simply keeping quiet and hoping they will forget is not acceptable and potentially criminal.

I am not sure what criminal act I've committed by telling my previous employer I believe they have overpaid me. They responded that they were looking into it some weeks ago. Please do expand on my criminality?

I'm happy to pay it back, but I don't even have details of who or what account to pay it to. 

That is not remotely what I have said! Indeed I went on to say "I am sure the OP is not intending to do this...."

Keep in mind that a forum like this is for the benefit of all that read it and not simply a private advice service.

When threads like this come up there are usually some responses that, between the lines, read "Do the minimum and hope the employer doesn't notice"! I was simply pointing out that legally more is required to avoid the risk of being accused of effectively stealing by finding.

You have taken the correct first step and I merely suggested what to do next if that doesn't resolve the situation reasonable quickly.

ElefantEd

You could always send the company a letter with a cheque (if you have a cheque book! - I must admit I last wrote a cheque about 10 years ago). However I wouldn't do this, or pay by BACS, or any other method until I had a payslip or equivalent telling me how much I owed as you could potentially have a tax issue if the company has informed HMRC of the (over)payment.

Grumpy_chap

Undervalued said:

stu12345_2 said:

this sort of happened to me in an old job.i got too much wages one month. I didn't check my wage slip.  I spend  the money on bills.
the next month I got my wages minus  the  over payment., as I looked at my wage slip.
I complained to employer, they said they took it back as it was their right. .
I said you have left me short to pay my bills, tough luck they said.

I complained to ACAS, who said an employer must offer me a choice of how I wish to repay the overpayment before they take it back in their one full swoop ., especially if it puts you into financial difficulties, which it did.

I said I was never offered a repayment plan
ACAS  then forced my employer to give me the overpayment back into my bank.

I then agreed to repay the money over a period of 6 months via deductions from my wages.
I got an apology from my employer for doing a wage grab for the full amount, when they should have offered me a repayment plan. as it was their error for overpaying me in the first place.

Legally it is as much your responsibility to check that your wages are correct as it is your employer's.

I am glad that ACAS's involvement encouraged your employer to be helpful but what you have stated above well overstates the legal position and not all employers would have been as flexible.

In that event, the ACAS mediation seems to have done particularly well.

If the poster received too much money in month 1 but spent that on bills and was then short in month 2 when the employer recovered the overpayment so the poster had insufficient to cover the bills, the hardship in month 2 was arguably nothing to do with the overpayment / clawback. 

Without the overpayment in month 1, the poster would have been unable to cover their bills that they spent the money on.
In month 2, the poster was set to be unable to pay the bills regardless of the overpayment being clawed back.

bobblebob

Happened to a friend who worked part time. Was paid 6 month after leaving despite telling HR at least twice to stop paying him (apparently his manager forgot to tell HR he had left).

They demanding the money back in 1 lump sum, to which he refused saying i kept informing you to stop paying me. He said im happy to pay it back x amount per month. In the end think they agreed on £30 a month and the total he owed was around £1000

saajan_12

bobblebob said:

Happened to a friend who worked part time. Was paid 6 month after leaving despite telling HR at least twice to stop paying him (apparently his manager forgot to tell HR he had left).

They demanding the money back in 1 lump sum, to which he refused saying i kept informing you to stop paying me. He said im happy to pay it back x amount per month. In the end think they agreed on £30 a month and the total he owed was around £1000

Happened "to" a friend as in he happened to them? If he knew the money was overpaid at the point of receipt, why didn't he just keep it aside and hence have it ready to pay back in a lump sum? He's the unreasonable one here. 

bobblebob

saajan_12 said:

bobblebob said:

Happened to a friend who worked part time. Was paid 6 month after leaving despite telling HR at least twice to stop paying him (apparently his manager forgot to tell HR he had left).

They demanding the money back in 1 lump sum, to which he refused saying i kept informing you to stop paying me. He said im happy to pay it back x amount per month. In the end think they agreed on £30 a month and the total he owed was around £1000

Happened "to" a friend as in he happened to them? If he knew the money was overpaid at the point of receipt, why didn't he just keep it aside and hence have it ready to pay back in a lump sum? He's the unreasonable one here. 

He should have, but as he told them twice to stop paying him and they never did he thought sod it I've done all i can, if they still want to pay me thats on them.

Like i said hes happy to pay it back over monthly instalments and they accepted that eventually