Can My Employers Deduct An Overpayment From My Earnings Without My Permission?

[RATTER15]

My employers have over paid me by about £700. I didnt notice the overpayment as it was during a period of 3 weeks off coupled with me working 21 days on the trot and the company changing the way they pay us so it all got a bit confusing and I didnt notice they paid me extra.

Now they want it back, I understand that they have the right to have it back but can they just deduct it without my permission, it was their screw up so I want some say in how much is deducted from my wages on a monthly basis.

[RATTER15]

Bright Spark, maybe you should be asking...can I afford to lose over half of a months wages!? My employer will just have to deal with it!!

[BRIGHT SPARK]

I find it hard to believe that you didnt notice a 50% increase.

[RATTER15]

Bright Spark, you are being obtuse!

Read the OP!!

[dieseldick]

my old employers put 5.000 quid into my bank account recently, it was sent from singapore. they called me to ask for it back and they would give me 200 euro as a good will gesture ( cheeky lol ) i went to bank immediately , not to send it back just to check if they did indeed send it, i asked bank staff could they recall this payment and staff told me they could not !!! ever . so anyway the money was well spent on a break to bangkok recently. yes i know all of you are screaming how dishonest i am but wouldnt you do the same , the boss is a millionnaire and also he is dutch and did not offer me any work for months and only used me because he couldnt get dutch guys to do my job....

[BRIGHT SPARK]

As a side note.......if you were my employee and you told us the office had overpaid you by £700 you would benefit from your honesty...however if you kept quiet...you would be on the new year transfer list.

[Baldric]

///I would not be able to pay my rent, meet other financial commitments or put food on the table///

If you manage to do all those thing from a normal months wages, and you've just received 50% extra, how come you would have a problem, did you not notice the extra and just carry on spending 'til it ran out?

[BRIGHT SPARK]

Dont be obtuse Balders

[RATTER15]

Why do people have such an issue with me asking a simple question? //Can My Employers Deduct An Overpayment From My Earnings Without My Permission?//

I think I explained everything in my OP!

Now if people want to have a poke at me please start a different thread!

[Referee-Observer]

Do you belong to a trade union? If so get them involved, if not agree to discuss the matter with the H.R. department and take along either a T.U. representative or work collegue who will assist in keeping the discussion neutral with a possible win win outcome.

[RATTER15]

Thanks Ref!

[RATTER15]

No I dont belong to a trade union and never will, living through the 70s put me off them big time.

[Referee-Observer]

Sorry to hear that Ratter..!!

[boxtops]

I too am coming from where Baldric is asking. I can understand how you weren't sure 100% how much you would get that month - doing extra hours etc., but surely you had a rough idea? I too can't understand how you can say you would be destitute if you had to pay it back in a lump - surely your monthly outgoings are the same and you afford it from whatever your "normal" salary is. However - the answer I would give is yes, they can take it back in one lump, but as others have said, it would be much better if they negotiated a reasonably repayment plan with you, particularly since you have explained to them that you were on leave, had worked extra hours, and thus werem't sure how much your nett income would be last month. Hopefully they will be accommodating to you.

[RATTER15]

Do I really need to go into great detail to the reasons why I didnt notice it!!

This happened at a time when I was in a far better financial position, we were selling a lot of animals, moving house and had a lot of money moving around through various accounts.

Why cant people just answer a simple question without all the *** stupid nosey questions!!

[LyndaB]

I've read the link which says that if the original mistake was a genuine mistake then yes, they can stop it out of your wages. I have no experience of this, but I'm pretty sure that I would notice if my wages were up by even a fraction of what the OPs were. I certainly know that if I was ever short in my wages I would expect my employer to pay it all at once and not in dribs and drabs - regardless of how wealthy the employer is

[boxtops]

Ah I see - it was a while ago - thanks Ratter, that makes a lot more sense now - I thought you meant this last payroll. Good luck with it, anyway - I hope your employer will be sensible and take back a bit at a time. Probably have to be in this tax year in order to keep the books straight, but that's four months away.

[237SJ]

We were having a conversation about this at work the other week. The conversation came up when I mentioned that I had $30,000 mistakenly credited to the old expenses card we used to have. My colleague said he had been over paid (I think it was £2000) and the company asked for it back in one lump. He told them that that was unreasonable and they agreed to take it in stallments. I don`t think there is any law that defines it either way but I would think most companies/employees would be able to come to an agreement.

[Baldric]

Google is your friend (and does not come with snide comments)

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/wales/work_w/faq_index_employment/faq_employment_overpayment_of_wages.htm

http://www.birkettlong.co.uk/site/library/legalnews/recovery_of_overpayment_of_wages.html

[RATTER15]

Last month I noticed an increase of 19 p per hour in my wage packet, I was the first person to go into the office to query it as none of the other staff had noticed that that they also had it. It was due to an increase in minimum pay rate apparently.

I am not stupid and I am not a thief, sometimes events happen in our lives that derail us slightly and I for one do not wish to go into great detail on a public forum, many people on here will know about this and many wont but it was through no fault of mine and cost me in excess of £30.000

[dieseldick]

if they put it into your bank account then they cannot get it back. unless you give them it back.

simple as that !!