To think this is unfair…

[Iwannakeepondancing]

Noticed I was paid less this month by £60. Queried it and payroll said they noticed a number was the wrong way round on an adjustment that was made so over the last year they’ve paid me £160 rather than £106. I now have to pay this back over the next 6 months. So as well as being £60 out of pocket I am then an additional £100 out of pocket to repay it.

surely in this case it’s their fault and not mine and I shouldn’t have to pay it?

Just seems so unfair when it wasn’t me that made the mistake nor did I notice there was an overpayment as I was downgraded in my position!

It’s annoying but it is totally normal for them to recoup the money

Very unfair but will have to repay it unfortunately. It happened to me once and they agreed a smaller repayment plan

They should have informed you before you got paid though.

You e been overpaid, so you owe them that money. You could ask for the repayments to be reduced.

The company I work for do this, if they owe you money, you have to fight tooth and nail toget it back. If you owe them money, payroll springs into action to get the money back like it’s a do or die task.

How is it unfair if you weren’t owed it in the first place?

I think it’s unfair that they didn’t discuss it with you before deducting the money from your pay packet! Very unprofessional of them.

However, it’s fair that you repay the money, just as it would be fair for them to pay you back if you had been underpaid.

I don't think its unfair, per se. You received money that you weren't entitled too so you owe it back.
That said, it should have been discussed with you before they started to deduct your pay.
There is also an onus on you to check your pay/slips to make sure you are being paid correctly.

you still have to repay it regardless who is to blame.

They should have notified you, but it's not wrong or unfair per se.
Can you negotiate a lower monthly repayment amount?

YANBU to think its unfair but you will likely have to pay it back. I was overpaid a few years ago, and the rules at the time were unless you reasonably couldn't have known so it wasn't your fault, and you could demonstrate repaying it would cause significant financial hardship you had to pay it back. They should be able to provide a payment plan that is achievable though, so you could negotiate a longer repayment period. I paid mine back over 12 months, and the start of that was delayed as I didn't start paying until they provided detailed calculations to prove the money was owed. In my case this took months as the company was a nightmare to deal with (I'd already resigned) so kept sending me legal letters instead of pay calculations.

YABU not to be aware of what your pay should be. IMO it’s part of being a grown up - and it works both ways.

I don't think it's unfair to pay it back but they should have told you and made sure you were happy with the monthly amount.

They have thr right to get the money back, but it would have been good practice to tell you Employers can't just withhold wages, but recouping a previous overpayment is considered a reasonable deduction.

https://www.davidsonmorris.com/unlawful-deduction-of-wages/#:~:text=a%20pay%20dispute.-,What%20is%20unlawful%20deduction%20of%20wages%3F,without%20their%20permission%20or%20consent.

I think its unfair, its very hard to know exactly what your pay will be after taxes and deductions especially as they have changed recently. They should have communicated with you, informed you of their mistake and taken a consultative approach on how to rectify, ie how much can you afford to pay back over what time period - along with an apology for mucking you about. You obviously have a shit employer.

YABU
I used to get paid weekly, and when we got our wages slips, we would be checking every number to make sure it was right. A penny short, and we would be talking to our boss. One of my colleagues got overpaid by £200 or so (which was basically double his normal pay) and was of the opinion that he should keep it as it was their mistake.
He had to pay it back, and bitched about it all the time. He settled on an arrangement though. Can you negotiate the amount and time a little??

You absolutely have to pay it back. It’s not your money. If you’d accidentally overpaid someone you’d expect your money back just like if you overpaid tax you’d expect a rebate.
If you are going to struggle to pay it you can always talk to your manager and payroll to see if you can arrange a repayment plan. There is often a threshold before they offer a repayment plan as standard though.
Overall the “it was their mistake” argument doesn’t matter. It’s also their money. Thankfully it’s not an amount where your own integrity can be called into question as with tax and deductions you could genuinely think you were entitled to that amount.
I once knew of a case where a manager didn’t inform payroll one of their staff had gone on maternity leave. She received full pay for a year…. Literally no one can buy the “I didn’t realise I was being overpaid” argument there. She obviously had to repay it over time when it was noticed but there was always a big question mark over her integrity for not speaking up.

Same with an employee of mine I don’t remember the details (it was a long time ago) but something happened when she was on leave (US so different system) and being paid more than she should have in the range of 30-40% more.

Because of the amount there was talk of disciplinary measures in her case because she didn’t say anything for a very long time and was caught by payroll but in the end it was arranged with her to pay back.

Before the employee incident…In my case one day it looked like I was paid twice. I thought that was odd, so called our payroll person. Seemed as though they paid me a bonus that I wasn’t eligible for that was coincidentally very close to my normal pay amount. I was thanked for letting them know and was asked if I wanted it to be deducted in installments or have it reversed outright. I was actually really grateful for the offer because my boss had let them know it was the month of my wedding and I was super broke. Basically they were willing to give me a short term no interest loan! In the end I had them just yank the money back immediately.

Clearly they weren’t the best payroll department so I didn’t trust them to screw it up!

@saltinesandcoffeecups that’s exactly it really, it’s about the honesty. I think with the one on maternity leave they didn’t discipline because they were foolishly afraid of it being a protected characteristic- like that somehow made her bullet proof. It was very silly of the woman though as these things almost always come to light during audits or when reviewing pay and then your career can be in tatters.