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?

What kind of 0 hour contract are you, could it be that someone else is underpaid those 60 hours? If so they're obviously gonna flag it.

I was overpaid £150 a few months ago as they'd put 12 hours on me that was due to someone else, I didn't blink because all I look at on my payslip is how much (it varies every month)

Boss rang me a few days later telling me she's put someone elses hours on there and is it okay to take it back the following month or would I need extra time, I checked + she was right so I offered to transfer she said it would be easier to minus it from the following pay check.

So no dramas, but if they do take it back be prepared for a smaller January wage, perhaps.

I'd probably keep quiet, and deny all knowledge if picked up on (tell them I assumed it to be a Christmas bonus) and transfer it back. I'd pop it in an ISA / saving account for 18 months, then spend.

Guaranteed they will find out and you will owe them the money. Tell them.

@OffTheHookNow
Well I guess we all judge one way or another, but we all judge differently, and there are plenty of grey areas. To my mind, thieves who target people on the street and snatch their phones are way, way less moral than someone who’s been overpaid - not stolen the money, been overpaid - and who’s now having a debate with herself about whether she should pay it back. That’s a very understandable, very human reaction imo. It doesn’t mean the OP, or anyone who thinks the same, is morally bankrupt, generally dishonest, or okay with “depriving” big companies.

Put it aside , tell payroll, and give it back. Your contract will have a clause about overpayments. If you spend it and they notice they are likely to ask for it back and depending on the repayment terms you will find your self short. Particularly if they only allow you 2 or 3 months. It was never yours in the first place.

@Whattodowithoverpaymentwhat will you do if you spend it and they then ask for it back? Can you afford to pay back money from your normal monthly salary? You say you’re broke now. It’ll be worse if you then have less coming in per month until you’ve paid it back.

This happened to me nearly 20 years ago - similar amount but I was on about £50k at the time. It happened in acrimonious circumstances and I wanted to be as awkward as possible, so I asked a lawyer friend about it.

His view was that I couldn't keep it and had to pay it back - that much was crystal clear. He also said that because the overpayment was contained within a payment that I was very much entitled to, and could have realistically failed to notice, then it would be reasonable to offer to pay it back in instalments. When they caught up with me a month or so afterwards that's what I did: I proposed a schedule of something like £150 a month and they accepted it. After the last instalment I also asked for a letter stating that the matter was closed, just to piss them off and incur additional costs.

Tempting as it would be to keep free money from a company that won’t miss it, I would tell them. They quite probably have a report system that can flag anomalies. If you are broke as is, paying back £750 when you’ve already spent it won’t be fun.

Our auditors cross reference rosters, timesheets and pay hence picking up payroll errors. This is on a random selection of course. If the errors being picked up are higher than an agreed error margin, then all records in that payroll are checked. In addition, managers do monthly checks and have to sign off their budgets as correct, hence identifying errors. I am in a large multi national organisation .

My husband has been overpaid four times this year 🤣 no mention of it once. We love it. I also have been overpaid. Then sent a cheque once I left the company. Who cares, life is too short. And as you say, it will help your family massively! You 100% will not get a criminal record. You think I tell Deliveroo when they send me fillet steak instead of beef slices? Do I balls. Some right melts here ffs. The people going ott are probably the type who ring police on kids who are playing games on front.

It would be an interesting one to actually tell lots of people they had to pay money back based on that. It’s perfectly possible the roster was wrong.

They are the ones who scream ‘shoplifting’ if someone forgets to pay for a plastic bag and think ‘fraud’ is getting a 5 year old into the zoo for 4.

I wouldnt say anything but I wouldnt spend it immediately either.

Are you sure they haven’t given you your salary early? My org. pays us December's salary before Christmas and if I don’t shift it into another account straight away I’d be flat broke by the end of the first week of Jan.

My employer messed up and accidentally paid me an extra £3k earlier this year. Almost double my monthly earnings. I immediately told them. I’m an accountant so it wasn’t worth the risk of trying to get away with it and being found out.

As a police officer let me advise that this way of thinking is incorrect.

You will not get away with this. Just tell them.

I worked in payroll and overpayment is very common (not by me though). People who got overpaid for a year for an extra responsibility they had stopped doing - they had a repayment plan over a few years.
When one school changed trusts all the staff were given an extra months pay which no one noticed for several months and not one of the hundreds of staff owned up!

As a police officer comment 🤣

I worked in payroll for years. If your timesheet said 40 hours when you only worked 4 (for example) then its unlikely it will be picked up. Everything in accounts will balance its only if the manager who submits your hours suddenly realises that you didn't do that many hours that it would get picked up.

Well it seemed appropriate to give actual facts, rather than the opportunistic dross you came out with.

Bless you. You wally!!!! 🤣😩

Also, it is only illegal if you have been notified and spend it. 💛

And again, factually incorrect.

you better send riot vans out then…officer.