To be worried to bring this to manager's attention?

[emmalouise83]

Last year I requested a reduction in my hours from full time (37.5 hrs) to 32 hrs. I did this through formal channels with my manager and have the paperwork to back up my request. I have never looked at my payslips (all electronic, don't get them through the post), and just took for granted that this had been correctly processed as requested, and therefore assumed that the new amount I was being paid reflected the number of hours I'd asked for.

I have looked at my payslip for the first time properly today and noticed it says 33 hours at the top. I've looked back and they are all the same, since I requested the reduction. This means for the best part of a year I have been paid for 1 hour more per week than I've worked.

I am now really worried that if I raise this with my manager I will owe back a lot of money. 😩 Can to be made to pay it back if I raise it, do you think? This obviously wasn't my error as I was very clear in my flexible working request that I wanted to reduce to 32 hours. But could they argue that I should have checked my pay slips before now? What should I do?!

I expect they will get you to pay it back as there's usually something in employment contracts stating they can do this. Most likely they'll take it out of your future wages rather than a lump sum. I would bring it up to your manager sooner rather than later, I can see how you wouldn't have noticed before now, I used to rarely look at my wage slips!

Oh god i'm so worried now🙈
That's it, I don't look at them, I just took my new reduced pay amount after I requested the reduction to be the correct amount for 32 hours! And I've been receiving that amount every month since for almost a year 😩

Wonder if I could tally up all the hours I owe and work them back instead? 🤔

If they underpaid you by one hour a week, would you expect to be paid that missing amount? There's your answer, OP.

@Florissante not necessarily if it was caused my own error, no

They should let you make a payment plan, not take it all at once.

That's why I'm asking - this isn't my error, it's my manager's. The paperwork that supports my request which my manager signed off is very clear in asking for 32 hours.

Once payslips went from paper to email I never bothered checking either.

I'd fess up though OP.

They will want it back and I'd be honest about it asap. Most employers are happy to agree a pay back arrangement so don't panic. If you are on, say, £15 and hour you'll owe back about £700 (pre tax) why not ask to split that over a year, shouldn't be a huge amount every month.

What's clearly happened is my manager has entered it onto the online HR/payroll system incorrectly, and asked them to pay me for 33 hrs instead.

I’m really sorry. You will need to pay it back. Even if it’s not your fault. If you don’t mention it now it will be noticed at some point and you’ll have more to pay back.

if it was me I’d work out how much you owe and see if you can afford to pay it back in one go. They could take it all back in one go although you could suggest what payments you could afford over a period of time. If you can’t you could see if you could off set it against annual leave that you haven’t used. If you’re in a union contact your rep.

And it doesn't matter is it wasn't your mistake, the onus will be on you unfortunately

Oh this will make it more manageable! Hopefully they'll agree to something like this.

Of course not.

You will need to pay them back; it doesn’t matter whose error it initially was. It is your responsibility to check your payslips are correct.

In my large corporate workplace, my line manager would point out all the times I’ve worked late for “free” and even if I hadn’t - would tell HR to get to fuck if they wanted to claw back the money. To be fair, my HR wouldn’t even try. Don’t assume you’ll definitely have to pay it back or work the hours in lieu.

Sounds like this has been less than a year - 52 hours max. So even if you did have to repay it - it’s not unusual to use the same overpayment period as the repayment period - so it won’t be much per week.

I honestly expect this will go away, once you raise it. Be brave!

I hope you're right @Testina! I'm so panicky now

Don’t scaremonger. None of the companies I’ve worked for would behave like that. Even if yours would, it doesn’t prove that the OP’s will.

Is this not something to do with your breaks? Perhaps if you've changed from 8 hours with 1/2 hour unpaid, to something with a paid shorter break.

It's NHS if that's relevant

Oh I have no idea! I just know it says on my wage slip contracted hours per week 33, when it should be 32

They will most likely expect you to pay it back but you should be able to negotiate a payment plan.

If this was one of my team, given all the unpaid work they do, the staying late to deal with a crisis etc, I would just thank the staff member for letting me know, tell them I would adjust it and reduce the contracted amount by an hour for the next pay period.

You’re panicky because you are in the unknown!
Best case scenario: they say oops, and you’re done.
Worst case scenario: you have to pay it back, but the panic is over. So there’s still a positive!

Are you in a union? If not, you could contact ACAS. Contractually you will owe it if they insist, but where Union / ACAS can help if with negotiating the repayment period. Like I say, there’s a rule of thumb (not guaranteed) that repayment plan should equal the overpayment period, if employee requests it. Which is still money to pay back, but less of a panic and thinking they’ll want it all next week!

I wonder if the paperwork I submitted that my manager rubber stamped would be sufficient to argue the case I shouldn't owe it as he made the error? Or will they likely say the onus was on me to check he had done it correctly?

I would keep schtum tbh it's one hour not an extra weeks pay