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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to be slightly irate with work

62 replies

StealthPolarBear · 05/04/2012 22:38

I left a job I hated last December. Shortly before I left I went on strike with everyone else. I asked my manager at the time to email payroll to let them know and make sure it would be deducted from my final payslip. She did, and I have confirmation they've been notified.
Now, 4 bloody months later they've sent me an invoice for the strike day saying that I was paid and "as I can appreciate they want to recoup the money". I did this deliberately so I didn't get landed with a surprise bill long aftert I had forgotten the hell that was that job.

OP posts:
marriedinwhite · 05/04/2012 22:43

You were in breach of contract on the day of the strike. You were not therefore entitled to be paid for that day. Presumably you knew you had received your full salary for November (am assuming it was the 30th November strike) and therefore you should have set the money aside or contacted the payroll at the end of December when you knew you had not been deducted a days pay to sort it out. Responsibility works two ways I think.

Morph2 · 05/04/2012 22:44

surely you must have known it hadn't been deducted from your pay in which case YABU, surely you must have realised it would catch up with you eventually

Original poster
StealthPolarBear · 05/04/2012 22:45

No, pay was deducted from subsequent payslips as strike was on 30/11. I worked part of December so had no idea how much to expect. I do not have the time or inclination to go through my payslip with a fine tooth comb. I agree I am not entitled to be paid and have NEVER said I am. Given I told them to please deduct it from my Deember pay, with plenty of notice, and they agreed, AIBU to think they could just sodding well get it rght for once? And save me being landed with a bill when I'd forgotten about it?

OP posts:
Original poster
StealthPolarBear · 05/04/2012 22:47

Is it just me that just expects to be paid rough;ly the same each month and never checks much beyond that??
In that case IABU. I don't have time or interest to check my payslips in general, and in this case I had just started a demanding new job. TBH by December I'd forgotten all about the strike and the pay issue anyway.

OP posts:
ChippingInNeedsCoffee · 05/04/2012 22:47

What can they possibly do if you ignore it?

Married/Morph - I guess like a lot of people Stealth's pay wasn't easily calculated so wouldn't have know she had been paid for that day.

Original poster
StealthPolarBear · 05/04/2012 22:47

Am I the only person who, given plenty of notice with a request to do it, actually does it then?
Ah well. Fuckers screwed me while I was there and are still screwing me now.

OP posts:
Original poster
StealthPolarBear · 05/04/2012 22:48

I'm not going to ignore it. If I was paid then I shouldn't have been and I will pay it. But I have budgeted this month, there's not any slack and this is annoying. I will be sending an email to the person who confirmed this would DEFINTELY come off my December pay to ask what the hell happened.

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Original poster
StealthPolarBear · 05/04/2012 22:51

Oh dear, just re-read that last sentence of my second last post - think I am still full of pent up anger :o

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Cherriesarelovely · 05/04/2012 22:53

Stuff like this is very annoying I know what you mean OP. Oddly enough, I had the opposite issue. The strike day was not on one of my working days (PT) but the money was deducted from my pay.....not the next month because there was a balls up at the payroll but a few months after. Anyway, we got it sorted out but yes it is a pain. Not alot you can do though. Hope you are enjoying your new job anyway.

Original poster
StealthPolarBear · 05/04/2012 22:53

Yes, thank you :o I am one of the lucky escapees

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Cherriesarelovely · 05/04/2012 22:54

And I only noticed the error because I have recently changed my hours and so was checking that the extra hours had been added...so no, you are not the only one!

Bohica · 05/04/2012 22:54

I think it would be reasonable to offer to pay it back in instalments over the year. £1 a month

Do you have proof that you asked for it to be deducted, a copy of the confirmation and any emails etc?

Mistakes do happen - I am a payroll bod within my role but you shouldn't have to suffer due to their error.

Original poster
StealthPolarBear · 05/04/2012 22:54

And sorry you had hassle too, but hopefully that meant you were presented with a cheque :)

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Cherriesarelovely · 05/04/2012 22:54

Good on you!

Cherriesarelovely · 05/04/2012 22:55

Well, sort of......! They had ballsed up my pension contributions in reverse so I had double removed the same month resulting in no extra pay as such!!

Original poster
StealthPolarBear · 05/04/2012 22:57

Yes, I have an email from HR (who were our contact with Payroll) saying she'd make sure it was deducted from December's pay. I started my new job halfway through December so my logic was I wasn't going to notice a day less on that payslip!
Lol at paying it back at £1 a week :o Although tbh if I was unemployed I couldn't afford this. And there was a point at which DH was telling me to leave, new job or not. So...maybe. But TBH I just want it gone, not hangong over me.
Maybe I could offer to work a day in lieu :o And then I can go in, drink coffee, read a few reports and leave at 4pm. If it weren't for the colleagues I'd be annoying, I'd do that!

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marriedinwhite · 05/04/2012 22:57

If you have it in writing that you requested a timely deduction and they confirmed it you need to write to them and set that out clearly, enclosing copies of teh e-mails if you still have them. Be very polite and explain that you believed in good faith the deduction had been made and that you have not made provision to pay it from your family budget. Put in the letter that if you do not hear from them within 7 working days you will assume they will write it off.

It is one days pay and they are unlikely to follow it up legally because it will cost more than it's worth. Hopefully if you back it up with the e-mails they will make a commercial decison and write it off as a gesture of good will.

Good luck

Original poster
StealthPolarBear · 05/04/2012 23:00

Bohica, while you're here, can I just check something, probably me being dense.
The letter says "a payment of £100,000 (gross) [figures wildly inflated as Imight as well lie about my salary on MN :o] was added to your salary for strike action taken in November 2011, however this sould have been a deduction and this has resulted in a net overpayment of £130,000."

I dont understand that. How can the gross payment be less than the net payment...?

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Original poster
StealthPolarBear · 05/04/2012 23:02

spelling errors and amazing salary details are my own and a result of lots of wine
though we have had a couple of letters recently saying that the council (oh everyone guessed anyway) has changed it's bank account details...grr

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Bohica · 05/04/2012 23:04

I agree with marrie I would send a polite letter refering them back to the emails from HR and I bet you don't hear anything further.

BTW I offerd £1 a month not a week, £4 extra a month can go a long way Grin

You could also just ignore the invoice, I'm assuming it's for £60 give or take?

I don't think you will have anything hanging over you to ignore it, it may be computer generated.

Bohica · 05/04/2012 23:06

x post your last post - give me a minute Grin

HappyCamel · 05/04/2012 23:06

It sounds like they added rather than subtracted. So standard pay was eg £100, should have been £90 due to the strike but they paid £110 instead. So they need £20 back, not £10.

Marriedinwhite is correct though, refuse to pay it, send evidence of your initial email and see if they still come back for it.

Original poster
StealthPolarBear · 05/04/2012 23:07

Well the other thing that occured to me is it could be an error. They may have sent one out to everyone who was on strike and left before D-Day (deduction day) without considering that deducations may have already happened on request.
Ahh.
Goingt o ahve to find my payslip aren't I? And work out exactly how many days I worked.

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Original poster
StealthPolarBear · 05/04/2012 23:08

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
So they effectively paid everyone for 31 days in November??
The idiots. hat ca't be the case

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marriedinwhite · 05/04/2012 23:08

Because they added the payment gross are deducting the equivalent of the gross x 2 but have quoted the total net deductible figure to you. Depending on your tax threshold the net figure on x two may be significantly less than you would have expected it to be because the payment over the threshold is such that proportionately more tax is due.