Wage overpayment (employment ended after probationary period)

daveboy

I am hoping, after having spent some considerable time searching the site, that someone with knowledge can help me.

My partner was informed she wasn't being kept on after the three month probationary period (employer was 'Your local health authority' - similar name to a well known high street bank).

Her last worked day was 20 December, and she was paid on 19 December (this was a week earlier than normal due to Christmas).

At the weekend she received a letter stating that an overpayment of £306 had been made - and they want it back. The overpayment was apparently due to the branch informing head office late.

She did not have a signed contract as it was a probationary period - all she received was a simple letter at the beginning that detailed her hourly rate and the date she started. So she hasn't signed anything that states she will repay any overpayment.

She has told me that she was due 5 days holiday entitlement, which, with the day of the 20 December, may account for what they think is an overpayment.

Can anyone point me in the right direction? I have looked at the Employment Rights Act 1996 in relation to deductions from wages but that only applies if you are still working for the company.

Part of me is tempted to tell them to :whistle: for it, especially as I have found this elsewhere on the net and also in another thread on this site:

In order to show that an overpayment is not recoverable, then the employee must demonstrate three things. Firstly, it must be shown that the overpayment was the fault of the company and not the employee. Secondly, it must have been reasonable for the employee not to know that they were being overpaid. Thirdly, the employee must have acted to their disadvantage or the assumption that the payment of salary was correct (for example by spending the money!). The most common difficulty for employees is the second condition since it is often obvious when an overpayment has occurred. It is not acceptable for an employee to assume that they have received a substantial increase in pay unless there is some reason to believe that this is the case.

The letter admits the company made the error, my fiancee had no idea that it may have been a mistake because of the holiday pay situation, and due to us both not currently working, it has been spent (for the record I am not lazy, I have had a major operation recently).

I would love to see this company in court and take this on myself, but I know that ultimately a CCJ could be the end result.

brightonman123

ask for a breakdown (should have been supplied anyway), and also check if any holiday acrued was taken into account..

floss2

What did the payslip say? And what was the pay period? Did it state how many days she was being paid for?

daveboy

Apologies for the delay in replying.

With the letter detailing how much they wanted repaying, were two pieces of paper - one was a 'payslip' with what they thought she should have been paid (£304 different from what she was paid - not £306 as said above, my mistake).

The second for some reason was a payslip for January 2008, for £0.00 as she wasn't there. Why they have sent this, I have no idea, other than incompetence.

I am going on the holiday angle, as she has told me that this was approved by both HR in Coventry and the pharmacist in the branch.

Just a hint to others.......Your Local Health Authority is a poor employer (not the NHS, the pharmacy in your high street which I want to name but can't because I know it may break site rules).

The pay slip just details 'basic pay' and an amount, not the number of hours or anything like that. Holiday is not detailed on the slip either, which is why I am going in this direction to begin with as I think this is where they've made the mistake.

If anyone can advise on the legal standing on payments after having left a company where there is no contract it would be much appreciated. From what I've found, no legislation seems to cover it directly.