AIBU to expect payroll to stick to agreements?

[ILiveInAPineappleCoveredInSnow]

I was overpaid in November, however it was maternity pay and as I had never received a breakdown of my pay I wasn't really sure if it was right or not.

I called payroll then to question it, and they said they'd look at it and let me know. Didn't hear a thing.

Until a week ago - I get a letter saying they've overpaid me by almost £1000. So I immediately made an arrangement with them to repay in installments. I have their agreement to this in writing.

Today is pay day, and I received my pay slip in the post to find they have in fact deducted the entire amount!

Does anyone know where I stand on this?

Is it unreasonable to expect them to stick to the agreement they made with me about repaying in installments? I can't afford to repay the whole amount from my maternity pay - at the moment, the mortgage won't be paid on Monday because of the deduction!

Just won't be eating much this month then it seems. Hope the breast milk supply doesn't fail :-(

If so and the deduction has taken you below minimum wage then they need to pay you that

Rubbish. The company has overpaid the OP. They are entitled to claim that back even if it means the OP gets paid nothing at all for a month. The minimum wage is about pay before deductions such as this.

Having said that, they must stick to the agreement allowing the OP to pay it back in instalments.

DidoTheDodo - The company has agreed the OP can pay it back in instalments. In making that agreement they have voluntarily given up the right to take it in one go. It is true that they did not have to make that agreement. They were entitled to demand their money back immediately. But having made that agreement they must stick to it.

Fine, but I still maintain that the OP has had £1000 of someone else's money to which she was not entitled, that she seems to have spent.

Yes Dido, that is correct, however as stated previously, I had nothing to compare my salary to, no statement of what my maternity pay would be, had also to factor in two pay rises, and queried it in November and heard nothing at all from them until a week ago, when I immediately got in touch with them and they made a written agreement to allow me to repay over three months.
I have no issue with repaying, however I raised a query, was given no information at all, the first woman I spoke to thought it was fine but really didn't know and told me
Someone would call back - since they didn't and months had passed, I assumed it was correct.
As soon as I found out I owed them, I made an arrangement to pay them which they were happy with.
I do expect them to stick to that arrangement, since they offered it and made it in writing!

Thanks prh47

If I got £1,000 extra one month that would assume a pay rise of around £15,000 a year, taking into account tax and NI.

What industry do you work in where they give that sort of pay rise? (Because I'd love a job there thank you very much!)

It didn't come out as an extra £1000 because I also dropped onto maternity pay - but as I was given NO indication what my maternity pay was going to be, I had no idea how much the overpayment was.

The pay rise was in fact substantial due to promotion although not quite £15k.

OP, dido is deliberately twisting your words.

You have explained about the mat pay situation perfectly adequately - I suggest you ignore her goading.

Was just about to say has someone pissed on your cornflakes dido? I think the Op can't be much clearer really!

You are entitled to your opinion Duckworth, but that is not what I was doing at all.

I was simply pointing out that the discrepancy in pay should have ben noticed (and indeed was noticed, as the OP queried it) but getting no answers she made incorrect assumptions that have now led her to being required to pay back money that isn't hers.

I thought that was a fairly clear statement of my position, but since I can't be bothered to discuss this any longer I'll leave you all to it.

A difficult situation, but I must admit I wouldn't have touched the extra money without it being made crystal clear that it was mine.

It's probably a mixup between the departments you've mentioned. Maybe not everyone was made aware of your agreement.

I agree that most people in circumstances where they'd received an unusual amount of extra money would wait for a definitive answer from payroll in response to their query before spending it, so I think Dido's opinion is perfectly valid.

Asking payroll in the first place indicates that the individual isn't certain they should have the money, so it makes sense to think most people would wait for an answer.

It's not the difference of opinion that I consider goading, more the fact that OP has explained several times why she spent the £1,000, yet posters keep hounding her for having spent it.

Her explanation sounds perfectly valid - PP ( Dido in particular) are, for unknown reasons choosing to deliberately ignore this explanation - Weird, and yes, goady. Some people are just spoiling for a fight IMO.

...but OP has explained, she did not know how much to expect, so had no way of knowing if she had been overpaid or not!

Had this been her usual pay packet, and she knew that she has been overpaid, then yes, I would think you had a valid point - she shouldn't have spent it without checking.

As OP has said, several times, she didn't know how much to expect, so had no way of knowing that she had been overpaid

It's not that difficult to understand!

I had something similar - this month in fact! and spoke to payroll to query the overpayment and whether I would need to pay it back, as I didn't want them to take it back all in one go if I had been overpaid - I said I would pay them back via cheque as I was planning on putting the overpayment in a separate account. I was told that your employer can't put you in hardship, which if you can't pay your mortgage is what they have done. Are you in the union? I'd contact them if you are. I'd also detail in writing to payroll that they have caused you to go into arrears on your mortgage.

Hope you get it sorted

Managed to set up an overdraft with the bank to cover emergencies in case they don't have it sorted in time.

Eventually spoke to a manager at payroll who agrees with me that they have made incorrect deductions. She is going to try to sort it on Monday and make a special payment - so hopefully she will be able to do this next week.

She apologised for them not having sent payslips and a breakdown of maternity pay as well and has now sent these via email, which is helpful.

Thanks to everyone who was able to understand what I was saying. Like I said repeatedly, I wasn't asking about whether you thought I should have noticed/ spent/ kept the overpayment ((although at least some people managed to read my explanations of why it happened), I was asking whether payroll should stick to their agreement regarding repayment in instalments.

Interestingly, the manager I spoke to told me that they are not allowed to recover the entire amount in a lump sum if doing so would put you into financial hardship, such as being unable to meet mortgage payments.
She also said that even if you were notified immediately that you had been overpaid, the standard practice is to set up a repayment plan anyway as otherwise you can claim that the trust has broken down and this is admissible in a claim for constructive dismissal! Shame I couldn't get through to her first thing, she was much more knowledgable and helpful than the others I've been speaking to all day!

I live this happened to me as well. When speaking to my hr dept they were not allowed to subtract it from my SMP. I arranged and paid it back when I went back to work. I was as frustrated with you, as when I queried it, the amount kept changing that I owed, luckily it got lower!
Good luck with sorting this out

So you're all sorted OP? I'd go to your union if not. I had similar with HR/payrole miscommunications - one month I was paid £4500 (more than I should have been), another £800 (way less). They were shockingly badly disorganised, had no way of explaining the errors and when I finally left after maternity leave, tried to tell me that I wasn't entitled to paid bank holidays whilst on maternity. Sadly for them, I jolly well was and when I threatened to show the email to the company's own solicitors, in the blink of an eye, everything was resolved. I find it absolutely astounding that errors of such magnitude can be made in this day and age. You should have payslips, records of all deductions and should be able to claim the time it's taken you to resolve this as KIT days. I have no patience with big corporations who play god with people's lives as they can't be bothered to pay them properly.

Payroll

"Shame I couldn't get through to her first thing, she was much more knowledgeable and helpful than the others I've been speaking to all day!"

She doesn't sound especially knowledgeable if she thinks no repayment plan could lead to a constructive dismissal claim tbh. Glad she was helpful though.

flowery What legal qualifications do you have that you think give you the authority to make this statement?

She doesn't sound especially knowledgeable if she thinks no repayment plan could lead to a constructive dismissal claim tbh

Should add that I work for an advice-giving organisation and am well up on employment law...