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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

what's your experience of being overpaid at work, or anyone you know?

75 replies

stupidcomputer · 24/04/2021 10:12

just wondering what people's experiences are of being overpaid at work, how long did it go on for, what did your employer do when they realised their mistake etc etc? What percentage of your normal pay was it?

OP posts:
Wroxie · 24/04/2021 11:50

I was paid every month for six months after finishing a one-year contract. I dutifully informed them (copying in HR, the person who bought me in for the contract, and the fucking senior executive) every month and was ignored. A year after my last payment I sent them a registered letter saying they had 30 days to organise a way for me to send the money back, otherwise I would be spending it as I saw fit. Never heard from anyone. This was ten years ago. I suppose I still haven't spent the money as my savings far exceed it but I definitely consider it mine now!

dattenboroughiskingoftheworld · 24/04/2021 12:01

I had a colleague and friend who was overpaid over about 6 months (NHS). Her payslips were correct but the amount going in the bank was wrong. This was pre internet banking days. She was going through a divorce where substantial sums of money were coming and going from her account for solicitors, being bought out of the mortgage, transferring savings etc so she didnt notice the extra couple of hundred each month and had trouble getting her post redirected for a couple of months. When the mistake was discovered she was sent to a police station and interviewed under caution by the fraud team, suspended from her job and went through an awful time. She was fully exonerated when it was found to have not been her fault and could show the massive comings and going from her account. It almost broke her. She was one of the most caring and wonderful nurses I knew and I didn't hesitate to give her a character reference. The trust put a charge on her new property when she said she couldn't pay it back in one lump sum. Bastards!

Ninkanink · 24/04/2021 12:05

I discovered that I had been overpaid for about nine months. Not by a lot, maybe an extra £100 - 150pm. As I had discovered it and reported it straightaway as soon as I knew (and also because circumstances meant it was not exactly straightforward and I could not have been reasonably expected to notice the discrepancy) the company policy was that I did not have to pay it back.

BashfulClam · 24/04/2021 12:09

I was double paid one month . First full pay went in twice, took weeks after I reported it before HR called to discuss it. We agreed I’d get a zero wage the following month to balance it out and as I’d set the money aside I just used that the following month.

BuyYourOwnBBQGlenda · 24/04/2021 12:21

I find it odd the person in question had enough going on that they couldn't email and say "I've been overpaid, can payroll look into it" but could keep track month by month on what they needed to ring fence. Even if no one had done anything right then, at least it would've been flagged by them and not look disingenuous.

Don't think it's unreasonable that the boss is a bit cross. Makes them look like they have someone unreliable/dishonest on their team.

Neotraditional · 24/04/2021 12:30

@stupidcomputer

Thanks so much for all these useful answers. In the case in question, it was an obvious overpayment that went on for a while, with the overpayment being ringfenced by the employee (so they didn't spend it all) who didn't have time to sort it out because they have been going thru IVF all this time and dealing with the harsh impacts of covid on their family (both of which they're still having to do). The employee has now started to try and resolve it with the employer, as the employer has finally noticed, but isn't getting anywhere fast and is worried about it as their boss was really angry about it. It just seems a bit mad to me that they should get in trouble for something that wasn't their mistake, especially as they have looked after the money and are able to pay it back. I've certainly never been told by any of my employers that it's my responsibility to check my payslip.
Are you saying they noticed the overpayment but didn’t notify their employer? I’m not sure why IVF and COVID would stop them doing that?

Apologies if that’s not what you meant.

user1494050295 · 24/04/2021 12:30

My former employer a university over paid me after I had handed in notice. It was about £3k. They then took it off my final pay without telling me and I had a stupid letter telling me I had to pay it back. I did but on my terms. 50 a month over two years with no interest.

CleanQueen123 · 24/04/2021 12:31

I work in public sector payroll. For active employees we liaise with the line manager and employee to work out a recovery plan, usually from their salary over however many months it takes.

For employees that have left we issue and invoice and they then agree a repayment plan with us.

We're always a bit Hmm about former employees who claim they didn't notice they were still being paid for months after they left and it will cause them financial hardship to pay it back.

Hankunamatata · 24/04/2021 12:33

It would have took one email or phonecall to employer to say pay was wrong. I'd be annoyed if you realised pay was incorrect and then didnt actually say anything for ages.

Gwenhwyfar · 24/04/2021 12:35

I thought you just meant getting more money than you should for the amount/level of work and I thought 'loads of people'!

Neotraditional · 24/04/2021 12:35

Plus you say the money was ringfenced so you should be able to pay it all back at one surely? I would be angry too to be fair, you noticed the overpayment but said nothing until the employer discovered it. It does seem dishonest.

Neotraditional · 24/04/2021 12:36

*at once

EveryDayIsADuvetDay · 24/04/2021 12:42

Many years ago had an unexpected bonus payment on my payslip - from memory about 50% of my monthly salary. No one mentioned it, so I asked my line manager.
Turned out the leader of the team had been given a lump sum, had shared it out amongst the team - except for any to my line manager, who he didn't like much. Everybody was grumbling "why did you tell Richard?" for weeks, until Richard decided to take a different role in the organisation. No further bonuses though.

forinborin · 24/04/2021 12:46

@IceCreamAndCandyfloss

what did your employer do when they realised their mistake

I know someone who was dismissed for not reporting the overpayment as they clearly knew they were being overpaid.

This is one of relatively common "shit tests" when a person is promoted to the level where they will be managing (small) budgets independently.
Cocomarine · 24/04/2021 12:50

Your friend (colleague?) is taking the piss saying they couldn’t deal with it because of IVF and Covid impact on family.

I absolutely bet you they’d have found the time to do it if they’d been underpaid.

I’ve had IVF. IVF doesn’t stop you sending an email to your boss saying, “I’ve been overpaid - what do I do?” as a bare minimum, even if you really can’t get your act together and contact HR or payroll.

You say they’d ring fenced it... that sounds to me like they knew damn well they owed it back, but we’re keeping it aside hoping to keep it if they were never asked.

I know of someone who was sacked for obvious overpayment.
I also know someone where it wasn’t so obvious, who was very sympathetically treated - private sector, they wrote it off.

Cocomarine · 24/04/2021 12:51

@Gwenhwyfar

I thought you just meant getting more money than you should for the amount/level of work and I thought 'loads of people'!
A look so opened it with the same thoughts!!
IceCreamAndCandyfloss · 24/04/2021 12:51

@stupidcomputer

Thanks so much for all these useful answers. In the case in question, it was an obvious overpayment that went on for a while, with the overpayment being ringfenced by the employee (so they didn't spend it all) who didn't have time to sort it out because they have been going thru IVF all this time and dealing with the harsh impacts of covid on their family (both of which they're still having to do). The employee has now started to try and resolve it with the employer, as the employer has finally noticed, but isn't getting anywhere fast and is worried about it as their boss was really angry about it. It just seems a bit mad to me that they should get in trouble for something that wasn't their mistake, especially as they have looked after the money and are able to pay it back. I've certainly never been told by any of my employers that it's my responsibility to check my payslip.
I’m not surprised they were angry, how many seconds would it have taken to quickly send an email to say the overpayment was occurring. They had time to set the money aside but not to email or call their employer?
Cocomarine · 24/04/2021 12:53

“Looked after the money”

🤣🤣🤣

Sure they did! Looked after, my arse.

Regularsizedrudy · 24/04/2021 13:26

@AdventureIsWaiting

Public sector. Final payslip incorrect (paid me to the end of the month, not the point I left). Told them (twice), they denied & said it was fine.

Three months later got aggressive demanding letter in the post saying I had to pay it all back "within 14 days". Took me a further five months to sort it out as they kept calculating the sum incorrectly... at one stage they had me working my final two weeks for free Hmm Lots of weeks without contact on their part. I had to chase each time. Hugely frustrating, made me very angry considering it was their error and they were causing huge stress. We eventually agreed on a figure, but it wasn't what I'd calculated - close enough though.

I’ve worked in public sector payroll and this sounds bang on 😂 if they can fuck something up they will.
Dazzylazzy · 24/04/2021 13:33

I was overpaid after a promotion. I’m PT but was paid the FT rate for the first month. I put the extra to one side and told HR/finance the following month they paid me my proper salary minus the over payment. As I’d saved the over payment I was fine apart from the hours of admin for them to sort. Also they had to do some work on my tax and student loan payments I think.

GoBrookeYourself · 24/04/2021 13:33

I recently moved to a further job so they agreed to pay travel allowance, calculated for a year but paid monthly. They paid the yearly instalment monthly and didn’t realise- I let them know straight away but it worked out worse for me as they took it back the following month, but met where I only received the gross payment into my account. So I ended up about £600 worse off because of extra NI, tax, student finance etc and they just said there was nothing they could do about it.

GoBrookeYourself · 24/04/2021 13:34

Dazzylazzy, do you know what work they did to recoup the student finance/tax/NI? I was just told there was nothing they could do.

l2b2 · 24/04/2021 13:45

NHS Trusts payroll depts...grr....from bitter experience (usually underpayment) always check your wage slip/s with a fine toothcomb.

ToryStelling · 24/04/2021 13:48

This is one of relatively common "shit tests" when a person is promoted to the level where they will be managing (small) budgets independently.

I’m pretty certain this happened to me in my first job. I was only a graduate on about £17k a year, and one month I got paid around £1k more than usual.

At the time I lived with my parents so didn’t that pay stringent attention to my bank account as I didn’t have many outgoings. I hadn’t even checked my account when I was hauled into the office about 4 days after payday.

They made it very clear that they were pissed off with me for not letting them know about it - even though I didn’t know about it myself! They then made me pay it all back in full that same month.

No hassle for me, but they treated me horribly over it and I left a couple of months later.

freecuthbert · 24/04/2021 14:02

A care company I worked at previously paid a set rate for sleep-ins, it was roughly the number of hours at minimum wage. On your payslip if you had worked 5 sleep-ins across the month, it would show in a separate section below your hours as "sleep-ins: 5" and then how much in total. However, for months payroll was paying everyone the number of hours on a sleep-in by the set rate. So rather than, say, £70 for the sleep-in for 8 hours, they were paying £560 per sleep-in. People reported this but nothing was done for months and they continued to overpay us! Surely the company was bleeding money doing this. Then suddenly they docked everyone's pay in one go (no repayment plan) and many people had to go without any money. Of course, if you were sensible you would have put the money aside as obviously it would have to be paid back at some point. Some people however did not and could not pay rent and other things. I remember one colleague asking for a loan from me to make up for the shortfall! I do wonder what those people spent all the overpayment on, considering they were being paid for every sleep-in at the rate of £70 an hour. It never affected me as I had put all the money aside.