Overpaid maternity leave - must I repay?!

Hoenir

EnPointe said:

Hoenir said:

Undervalued said:

Marcon said:

mumofoneupnorth25 said:

Undervalued said:

mumofoneupnorth25 said:

I’ve been overpaid a few thousand on maternity leave. No, I didn’t notice. First maternity leave, asked employer for a breakdown of what to expect, never received it, busy with newborn. Anyway. Employer has admitted fault. I’ve researched and from what I can see, legally I’ll have to pay it back. Just wondering if anyone has any experience of this? Wondering if I could negotiate with them to just pay some of it back, any advice? Thanks 

If they had underpaid you by "several thousand" would you be happy to write some of it off?

I suspect you really already know the answer to this question.

Yes, they may well agree to "easy instalments" but no, they don't have to and could demand it all at once.

Depends on whether it was my fault or not. 

Somehow I doubt that...but despite all the naysayers, there's absolutely nothing to stop you trying to negotiate to pay some rather than all of it back. Remember that you start from a position of weakness, so your best bet is a charm offensive, not drum-banging that it's all their fault etc etc.

Send them a carefully considered email so you can think out in advance what you want to say, and don't run the risk of getting sidetracked by the new arrival crying at just the wrong moment during a phone call. Make the point that you didn't know what to expect in terms of pay and in the absence of the breakdown you requested on [date], took it for granted that your employer would have everything correct. Make a wry comment that you are finding motherhood even more expensive than the books had led you to believe, and although you realise the employer is entitled to seek full reimbursement, is there any chance they might be willing to consider accepting a little less than their due/repayment over a period of [xxx] months? Stress how grateful you'd be (no need to be servile, though!) and how much it would help you.

There is nothing to stop anybody from trying to negotiate in pretty much any circumstances.

However in this situation I would seriously consider what impression it would make on the OP's employer. 

Certainly could have an impact on future pay and career prospects. 

in what way ? 

Treat others as you'd expect to be treated yourself. Mistakes happen. Rectify them in the most appropriate manner.  

Was an employee of the company that erred not the employer. 

Hoenir

Savvy_Sue said:

Hoenir said:

Payslips would have been issued. Probably require somebody of seniority to sit and calculate manually the correct figures. Such is the dependence on payroll systems these days. Where it's little more than plugging numbers in. Be unsurprising if the original error wasn't actually very apparent. If the overpayments are a couple of thousand pounds. 

It's not quite a manual calculation, but there is (almost always) a manual element to it, because most payrolls run calendar monthly, whereas the SMP element is calculated on a weekly basis. So in some months there are 4 SMP payments, and in other months there will be 5. 

????

 I didn't say it was a manual calculation. Payslips would have been system generated. To calculate the correct figures and arrive at the adjustments required. Well however require a manual calculation.