Overpayment By Ex-Employer (but now live in another country)

[finnbits]

Hello,

I have been overpaid appx £800 pounds by an ex-employer..

They are claiming it was a months wages, and it was paid a month after I had left the company... I had recieved the money in my UK bank account and assumed it was my final wage (holiday etc) so took they money and spent it.. the thing is I recieved the money two days before I was about to leave to UK to return to my home country, (which is in another continent) I took the money and t/f it into but bank account held in my home country.

About a month later I received a letter outlining that I had been overpaid and repayment need to be organized, being so far away and having other worried I ignored this letter, after asking for the money back again the company has written a couple more letter stating my legal obligations to pay due to my contract of employment and the last letter stated that if I didn't reply they would be forwarding the file to their solicitors..

I really don't know where I stand on this because I am in a different country altogether now and really did not think they would pursue it this far.. I know realize that I am probably legally obliged to pay it back if I cannot prove that I thought it was an honest payment.. How far can they go with me being here and the debt being in the UK?

Also I left them my forwarding address willingly just in case my p45 couldnt be sent to my uk address in time, but how do they know I am still at the same address?? What will happen if I just put return to sender on the letters??

You would think that it would cost them more money than the debt is actually worth to try and get me to repay the money back but they have also stated that they can make me pay the court costs?????

If i did eventually have to be agree on a repayment claim how would this work with exchange rates and bank charges for depositing money into foreign bank accounts, I have no job I am a student and would most likely only be able to afford to pay £20-30 a month which appx £8 would be lost each time in bank chargers!!!

Another thing I am worried about is if I continue to ignore and see how far it goes if I will be allowed to re-enter the UK on a holiday? Is it true that debt is written off after 6 years or would this become a criminal offense??

As you can see there is quite a lot on my mind and I am pretty stressed, all advice would be much appreciated

Thanks

[old_andrew2007]

Its a difficult one if you agree to repay the money over a period of time i feel the bank charges should be met by your ex-employer.
I am sure someone on the forum will have some experience of a similar situation, and can advise.

[finnbits]

thanks andrew I do hope so, cos im so lost cos there are so many factors to take into account

[freakyleaky]

If you are certain that the money was an overpayment and you are willing to repay it you need to draft a letter to your ex employer offering to pay the money back at whatever rate you can afford. But you also need to work out the extra costs involved due to the problems of transfering money etc and deduct the total amount of these costs from the debt.
Include all this information in your letter to your former employer.
If it is a reasonable offer they should accept it.
I will flag this up for our resident employment specialist to take a look at later.

[finnbits]

I have no evidence / proof that it was an overpayment other than their correspondence through letters; although I am quite certain it is. I am not so certain I am willing to repay it as at the time I thought it was my money and I have spent it and really cannot afford to repay it..

[freakyleaky]

Originally Posted by finnbits

Hello,

I have been overpaid appx £800 pounds by an ex-employer..





.....likely only be able to afford to pay £20-30 a month

[quote=finnbits;1396031]I have no evidence / proof that it was an overpayment other than their correspondence through letters; although I am quite certain it is.

and really cannot afford to repay it..[/quote]

I get the impression that you are sure that it is an over payment. I have no idea how far they will take this legally. I would have thought that morally you would want to repay the money.
Good luck with whatever your conscience decides to do.

[hagenuk]

This is usually treated as money paid under a mistake of fact and there is a general right to recover money paid by mistake however, since you are now an ex-employee, the only way the company can recover the money if you do not repay them voluntarily is to bring any claim to a County Court.

The employer is entitled to recover the overpayment, subject to estoppel. Where an employer overpays an employee by mistake the courts will normally bar recovery if the employer led the employee to believe that he is entitled to treat the money as his own, not reasonably expect him to notice overpayment, that the employee has spent the money in good faith and the overpayment was not caused primarily by the fault of the employee. There have been cases where a defence has succeeded where an overpayment occurred as a result of a mistake of fact and the individual has not had to make a repayment. In County Council of Avon v Howlett 1983 the Court of Appeal held that an overpayment of sick pay of £1,000 was not recoverable because the worker was not to blame for the mistake and he had altered his position in good faith before the Council had claimed repayment.

For example, you have spent the money that that you were overpaid, you also held a genuine belief that it was yours and it would be inequitable for the employer to reclaim the money. This is the principle of estoppel. In these circumstances it may be possible for you to make out a defence or alternatively lodge a counter claim against the employer in the event that they do issue a claim against you.

In order to show that an overpayment is not recoverable, you must demonstrate three things. First you must show that the overpayment was the fault of the company and not you. Second it must have been reasonable for you not to know that you were being overpaid. Third, you must have acted to your disadvantage on the assumption that the payment of salary was correct. The difficulty for you might be the second condition since it is often obvious when an overpayment has occurred and you seem to suggest that you know it has happened. It is not acceptable for you to assume that you have received a substantial increase in pay unless there is some reason to believe that this is the case.

First thing is to confirm the overpayment by writing to the company and have them break down the sum they claim has been overpaid.

Then take it from there depending on what they come back with.

[finnbits]

I get the impression that you are sure that it is an over payment. I have no idea how far they will take this legally. I would have thought that morally you would want to repay the money.

I originally did not think that it an overpayment, now from what the company is saying I understand that it is, as far as a conscience trust me I do have one, but I am a really broke student dealing with a multi-billion pound company..

[finnbits]

thanks hagenuk, your advice was really good, although it doesnt mention anything about my legal rights being in another country and where the company stand on how they will make me repay the debt through court? I cant possibly attend court in the uk? will they make me go to court here?

[hagenuk]

They cannot make you do anything and for a sum as, relatively speaking, small as this, I doubt they will chase you too hard. Which country are you in?

In any case, I would suggest that you have a strong defence, it is referred to as "change of position" and is summarised in Lipkin Gorman v Karpnale Ltd 1991 by Lord Goff wherein he stated.

"...where an innocent defendant's position is so changed that he will suffer an injustice if called upon to repay or to repay in full, the injustice of requiring him so to repay outweighs the injustice of denying the plaintiff restitution."

I would suggest you obtain a full breakdown of the sum they allege is owed first and then go from there.

[finnbits]

I will request a full breakdown,

I am in australia... the last letter stated that they will be passing the file onto a solicitors, a threat maybe? They also stated I will be forced to pay the legal costs...if any are indured, another threat im not so sure, but other people have said the same as you and said that they doubt they will chase and amount so petty..