I've been overpaid by my employer, WWYD?

[Whattodowithoverpayment]

I work on a minimum-wage, zero-hours contract for a huge multinational company. I've just opened my latest payslip and they've overpaid me by around £750. I can see that whoever processed the payment has miscalculated the hours I worked last month. If the company was smaller I'd fess up, but they definitely won't miss £750. I'm flat broke and the money will mean so much to my family this Christmas. But I'm worried they'll find out and make me pay it back. What should I do?

Fess up but ask to pay it back gradually

For those saying I'll be prosecuted and will end up with a criminal record if I don't tell them, I really hope you're not employment lawyers or work in HR because what you're saying is entirely untrue. No company is going to start criminal proceedings against someone for not reporting a £750 overpayment. If I'd stolen the money from the till then yes, it's theft. Not telling them they've made a mistake with payroll is NOT a criminal offence. Jesus Christ...

Let them know as someone at the company will find out at December month end and will let HR/payroll know.
I work in finance and check all salary costs for people in my line of business every month. I always find discrepancies and let the relevant people know straight away.

Tell them as if they are that big it will get noticed. They will have bigs teams and staff to check these hours etc. stop being so naive and inform them otherwise it’s like you’ll end up getting it docked and if you’re on a zero hours contract could possible be let go. I’ve worked for big company’s and there’s always someone checking.

mistakes with payroll happen all the time. I see it every month. It’s not a crime and you won’t get a criminal record. Don’t worry.
But it will look better for you if you come forward as someone in finance will spot the mistake.

This happened to me about 20 years ago, when I was young and never even checked my bank account unless I thought I was close to going overdrawn. First I knew of it was my employer's HR department telling me I had to pay it back. Worked there for about 15 years after that and nothing more was ever said of it!

Mistakes happen, not a biggie, it will happen frequently in big companies. However you owe them it back so put it aside, if you don’t you’ll spend it and be in a pickle when they ask for it back.

I've worked as a bookkeeper. Eventually the books don't balance. So you look for errors and find where you have fucked up. And it's literally the bookkeepers/accountants job to notice.

Once they spot it they will ask for it to be repaid and there's fuck all you can do to complain. You'll have to repay it at some point.

If you don't declare you've been overpaid it put you on dodgy ground because they won't believe (correctly) that you haven't noticed and have failed to inform.

So you'd still have to repaid and you risk losing your job in the process. .

As much as it's tempting it's just not worth it. You'll come up worse off in the long term.

Tell them IN JANUARY - say you didn’t notice as it was Christmas

you need the money now. Then pay it off at £75 a month for ten months next year.

that’s totally reasonable

As most posters have said you should inform your employer of the error.

My nursing agency once paid me for a bank holiday shift which was cancelled within the allowed time - a bit of a killer as it was double time!

I let them know and received a thank you from them commending me for my 'honesty'. I was a bit pissed-of to be praised for being honest - it should have been a given that a nurse would be honest.

I replied that I was just setting the record straight that I didn't work those particular hours.

If you were short-changed you'd soon be on to payroll to complain.

So @Whattodowithoverpayment are you going to tell them?

Back in the 1980s I started a new p/t job and they never paid me at the end of the first month. When I contacted payroll they said they would get onto it which they did. The money (plus £500 extra) was in my bank within 2 days. They never took back the money or queried it and the company folded 4 months later. I also moved address so they would have had no way to contact me or claw it back. I had just begun a self funded masters degree so that money paid my fees.

They will find out so better to tell them and make arrangements to sent it straight back otherwise you’ll end up even more skint and possibly without a job for dishonesty.

You won’t get a criminal record at all, as long as you either pay it back or arrange a repayment plan, put it to one side for. Week or so and if they come back to you fine either send it back or do a plan.

Or I’d do this.

Tell them. They can legally claw it back.

They can claim it back if they notice. They might notice or they might not. When they reclaim the money they cannot reclaim it in such a way that takes you below national minimum wage for what you have worked.

So if you are such a confident expert, why are you asking?

You can tell why some people are skint. It’s because they are so reckless with money! An extra amount that isn’t there’s in the first place and they’d rinse it on shit at the first opportunity.

They don’t HAVE to agree to let you pay it back in instalments…they can take it all at once!

this is EXACTLY why I don’t believe people when the say they didn’t know they were being overpaid! They know, they just don’t care…until they’re asked for it back of course!

No, they can’t take the whole £750 if it would then take you below minimum wage for that whole period.

And I assume the OP is in a low wages job.

They will notice. I worked for a very large company and was accidentally overpaid- they noticed within a couple of days and reclaimed it over several months from my pay do either wait for them to contact you or contact them and let them know either way you won’t get to keep the cash sadly.

That happened to me years ago and they took it out my next pay!

This is one of those posts where a quick google would have given you the answers you need. The money is theirs, they’re legally entitled to get it back (the fact that the overpayment was their mistake is irrelevant), and if you spend it you open yourself up to the risk of criminal proceedings.

If you want to chance that, that’s up to you, but you don’t have a leg to stand on.

And you know keeping it is wrong because otherwise you wouldn’t have asked.

Chances are you’d have to repay at some point. The times when the employer doesn’t ever discover the mistake are surely pretty rare.

so, if you’ll end up paying it back, what’s the point in keeping it?

and if I were a manger who discovered one if my team had kept quiet about this, I’d be keeping a close and untrusting eye on them. Not good when you’re on a zero hours contract.

in any case, it’s immoral to keep it. Why would it be any different to keeping a £750 overpayment from a 2 person small business?