Overpayment from employer

AmDaMan

AmDaMan

AmDaMan

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
4,023
Location
Wellington, NZ
Hi, I got a letter the other day from my employer saying they overpaid me around £200 and now they want it back. Fair enough, I need to find my contract etc and look through my holidays and things like that. The reason i'm a bit annoyed though is because I went through HR before I left to ensure nothing like this would happen and it still did, plus this was my placement year at uni and they have decided to contact me five months later when I can't really afford to pay them back yet.

They've also stated that I left on the 19th (which I did) but they paid me to the 30th which doesn't make sense as payday was the 24th that month and I remember receiving the normal amount, so I figured I had holidays left (which I need to check).

Has anyone dealt with this situation before? Why have they decided to contact me 5 months on when full payment simply isn't viable right now? They probably still have my bank details, could they just go into my bank account?

Thanks.
 
Phone them and speak to them directly. Perhaps ask them for a breakdown of the final monies paid to you, and to account for the "overpay" so you can confirm the validity of it?

If they know how much they overpaid you, they must know what you were overpaid for.

I am pretty sure they will not be able to just deduct money from your account. I would check with your bank to be sure though.

I am not an expert on this subject btw, its just what I would do in the same situation :)
 
Yes they can, and are legally in the clear to claim it.
Contact them in person to let them know you'l pay them back, but inform them politely that it will need to wait until xx date when you'll be able to afford it.
 
What if the OP had moved on? The letter would never have gotten to him so surely he wouldn't have been liable.

In all reality though I would ask for a thorough breakdown and options to pay back the cash if you really do owe it.



M.
 
I was in your position twice when i left the two jobs i had while at uni. I got letters from both but as I was on a sort of non working gap year when i got them, i just ignored the letters. Haven't heard anything else about it and we're a couple of years down the road now. If i were them i wouldn't want to go to all the hassle of taking it to court or anything for such small amounts. Would be a different story of course if they had kept paying me for months. I'd be screwed if the had because i would def have spent it:p
 
they can claim it back but as has already been said they can't take a lump sum from your account without permission. offer them what you can afford be it £100 a month or £25 a month.
 
My last employer did exactly the same thing, but with an overpayment of £570. Luckily i spotted the overpayment and placed it in a savings account until they asked for it back. It took them 5 months and I'm glad I kept the money aside to pay them.
 
AmDaMan said:
Has anyone dealt with this situation before? Why have they decided to contact me 5 months on when full payment simply isn't viable right now? They probably still have my bank details, could they just go into my bank account?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Had this with Citylink about 5 months after I left, tell them no chance, too much time has passed, you spend all your wages every week and 5 months is too long to even consider asking for their money back.
They have had ample time to discover their error, considering you received your P45 from them as well.
Basically, tell them to swivel.

I did, and when in doing their nut over it trying to find a way to make me pay them nearly £400, they discovered they hadnt payed me for 20 hours overtime, so that left them £600 out of pocket instead of £400 had they not been so stupid.
 
My exployer overpaid me when I went back to uni after completing a placement.

I'm still working there part time and arranged to pay 1 day a month back so I don't really notice it... any holidays in lieu were also used against the outstanding payment.

Non issue to be honest ;)
 
My fiancee experienced this, year ago. Old employer, about 6months after she left sent her a letter claiming overpaid money. We didn't have the money, didn't realise it was overpaid and ignored the letter.

Had another letter, but ignored that. I got a little legal advice off our home insurance and was told that legally they could claim it back, but it is very hard for them to do so. Because we didn't spot the overpayment, and basically we were at the time broke, they would stuggle getting the cash back.

Nothing ever came of it. It was about 4/5 years ago now.
 
Your contract will say overpayment can be claimed back. I think that is there to cover themselves if they pay you £10,000 in a month or something crazy:p

Ask them for full proof before you even consider the issue further. Also demand a formal letter.

I would be inclined to say you got the HR department to check it all through before you left that you had been paid correctly. £200 to a business is less than a weeks wages I would have thought for a placement student.

Also if they paid you £200 too much then you do not owe them that much due to Tax and NIC deductions before you saw any of it!!
 
I'm going to say i'm not in a financial position to pay it back yet. I'm not sure if I'm doing a masters either so that would delay it further.

The tax is a good point too I think, I need to look into it further really and at the moment I don't really have the time to be messing about.
 
Update:

Got an email back today saying i've basically had enough time and they have provided the information required (which they haven't). They go on to say they will take it through credit control and the courts if necessary. They have delivered the ultimatum 'I trust this course of action will not be necessary and that I will hear from you within the next 7 days with details of when payment will be made'

Don't really appreciate the approach they have taken to an ex-employee. They were five months late, i'm in full time education so am I supposed to drop everything and sort their mess out? Or am I supposed to financially strain myself due to their mistake? If it had been a few weeks after there wouldn't have been a problem but it's not.

Is this what a recession does to companies or is this just reality? Why can they not allow five months to sort my finances out? Also threatening me with legal action already at an ever greater cost to them?

Not going to bother responding to that email.
 
AmDaMan said:
Update:

Got an email back today saying i've basically had enough time and they have provided the information required (which they haven't). They go on to say they will take it through credit control and the courts if necessary. They have delivered the ultimatum 'I trust this course of action will not be necessary and that I will hear from you within the next 7 days with details of when payment will be made'

Don't really appreciate the approach they have taken to an ex-employee. They were five months late, i'm in full time education so am I supposed to drop everything and sort their mess out? Or am I supposed to financially strain myself due to their mistake? If it had been a few weeks after there wouldn't have been a problem but it's not.

Is this what a recession does to companies or is this just reality? Why can they not allow five months to sort my finances out? Also threatening me with legal action already at an ever greater cost to them?

Not going to bother responding to that email.
Click to expand...

So basically your response is to "bury your head in the sand" and hope it goes away?
Please don't post here in a couple of months time "Baliffs turned up at my house".

They are basically giving you the chance to pay up before having to take things to court.
If it goes to court and they win, which really they will, you'll probably have their court fees to pay as well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom