Paycheque overpaid?

[BigToe7000]

Let's say my employer has a payment system like this:

 

Week 1: I do the work worth £15. (I also get paid £10 for last week's work)

Week 2: I get the £10 paycheque with £15 written on the front. I also get the £15 in my bank account. I also do work worth £20.

Week 3: I get the £15 paycheque and get paid £20, with £20 written on the front of the paycheque.

 

Basically, if on week 2 they write £24 on the front of my paycheque, but I get paid £33...

 

a) What could have happened?

b) Is it legally my money?

c) Can they reclaim it back via BACS or will they make a deduction from my next paycheque?

 

I don't intend on saying anything to them until I get the actual proper paycheque that will either say £24 or £33. I might have got a bonus or something! (yeah right)

 

Thanks in advance for any help,

 

Dan.

[1stlifeline]

Be careful, my son had this happen and he was the one who rang to say I think you are overpaying me. He had just left the company and as his wage slips did not state what was back pay, holiday pay, severence pay or delayed overtime pay it was all very confusing.

 

Than you for letting us know, they said, we will look into it. He heard nothing for 2 years and 10 months---then they took him to court and he has to pay it back!!!!

[BigToe7000]

Be careful, my son had this happen and he was the one who rang to say I think you are overpaying me. He had just left the company and as his wage slips did not state what was back pay, holiday pay, severence pay or delayed overtime pay it was all very confusing.

 

Than you for letting us know, they said, we will look into it. He heard nothing for 2 years and 10 months---then they took him to court and he has to pay it back!!!!

:-| If it is the case that my paycheque says the lower amount, I'll probably phone my boss up straight away then. Don't want my employers suing me!

[chesham]

If you are overpaid, legally the money is not yours....unless 6 years has passed and they have made no attempt to contact you or take steps to claim it back, then the debt is defined as statute barred, meaning they cannot use any legal means to get it back, so effectively sweet fa can be done about it. However, there were cases in the US and some in the UK in which the courts awarded judgements to the employers as the employee has an obligation to repay the money. Same applies when banks deposit too much into your account.

[prushton]

Itemised pay statements

All employees must have an itemised pay statement containing a minimum of the gross pay, net pay, amounts and reasons of deductions and the methods by which every part of the net pay will be paid. The statement, or pay slip, must be given to the employee either prior to or on the pay day.

Deductions from Wages

An employer is allowed to make certain deductions from an employees wages, which include Tax & NI, attachments of earnings, authorised third person payments without prior written authorisation from the employee.

Even if the employee owes their employer money, repayment of a loan for example, and fails to pay it the employer, without specific written consent from the employee, can not just deduct it from their wages.

There are certain payments that are not classed as wages, which include advances, redundancy payments and compensation.

A retail shop worker may have a maximum of 10% of their gross wages deducted to pay back cash and stock shortages following written notification.

If a complaint to a tribunal is upheld then the deduction is made illegal and, no matter how justified the deduction was, must be paid back, furthermore, no other court action to recover the deduction may be made.

Overpayment of Wages

An employer is allowed to recover overpayments of wages, if the amount was quite large the employer would generally be expected to inform and then negotiate a repayment schedule with the employee. An employee need not pay back the overpayment if they can prove to a court that they did not know nor could they have reasonably been expected to have known of the overpayment.

[Conniff]

I just want to highlight and reiterate a part of Prushtons post

 

"All employees must have an itemised pay statement"

Why are you not getting proper payslips BT?

[ForestChav]

He's 14.

[chesham]

. An employee need not pay back the overpayment if they can prove to a court that they did not know nor could they have reasonably been expected to have known of the overpayment.

 

This defence is really in the minority, as it could be said that if they have been paid the same amount regularly previously, it would have been notice that more money had been paid than normal, therefore highlighting the issue (eliminating the defence of not knowing). The defence of not reasonably being expected to have known of the overpayment is a legal mystery, and I have no idea how you could build a defence on this at all!

 

On another note, I was overpaid once on a final pay packet, but did not know it at the time. Between the time of my final pay and my ex employer discovering it, I had been through the bankruptcy and the debt was listed as part of my 'estate' as well as my personal debts, therefore statute barred!

[prushton]

I agree that if you knew the amount was too much , when compared against the usual sum paid for x number of hours at £ per hour then you would not be able to prove that you didnt know, but if you were not receiving a weekly pay slip with an itemised breakdown of the wage , detailing tax / national insurance etc then you could not have reasonably have known that what you were receiving constituted over payment, as wage slips are usually a good source of reference.

[BigToe7000]

I just want to highlight and reiterate a part of Prushtons post

 

"All employees must have an itemised pay statement"

 

Why are you not getting proper payslips BT?

I never said I was!

 

I do, just I get them a week later than the money gets paid into my account. It turned out I got 'Hol Pay' of the extra amount in the paycheque I recieved the next week, probably referring to either the week's holiday I had in the summer (perhaps their year ends halfway through January :grin:) or I had only one part of my job to do on new year's week, instead of 3 as usual.