Oh Heck, How did it get to this?

[JamRok]

Last March (2011) after a review of my finances I realised that my Salary had gone up by approx £50 per month, but I did not know why. So I emailed my Line Manager to let her know this. She replied by email asking for some further details i.e. the amount it had gone up by, and when it started to happen. So I got this information ready for my next 1 to 1 and verbally communicated this to her. From my recollection I believe she was then going to look into this and get back to me.

Well time went by and I did not get a response, and I have to hold my hands up and say that I forgot about it. My Line Manager works offsite and like most people I had an increasingly high workload over the year, sometimes overwhelming and so it did not cross my mind again.

So over the Xmas holiday period I was reviewing my finances and realised that this has not been resolved.
I feel like I should raise it again with my Line Manager as that is the honest thing to do but I am worried that:
a) I could get into trouble for failing to remind my Line Manager of this issue since last March
b) My Line Manager could get into trouble for failing to resolve / get back to me
c) That I'm going to have to pay it all back - although I am quite prepared to do this

I am interested in your opinions on this and what you would do next? I feel stressed about it but also realise that I am partly to blame :(

keep quiet.

If they raise it at some point in the future say you assumed it was right as you have raised it once.

What Methe said.

Well, I don't see that anyone should be in trouble - everyone sounds very busy and this wasn't particularly urgent in the great scheme of things.

The paying back thing is a potential problem - about 500 quid to date? But surely you'll be able to negotiate paying back in instalments if it comes to it.

Can you drop your Line Manager a friendly email saying that you'd forgotten all about it and wondered about the outcome. I'm sure she'll just ask you for the details again and follow it up.

I think I'm a bit of a goody goody.

You could be asked to pay it back if they notice, eventually.

Do you work for a large company or a family run business?

I work for a large company and part of my role is to input payroll.
I have two checking reports to go through, first one for when I have entered the amounts and the second one once the payslips are ready for printing and funds ready to transfer.

I check monthly amounts against employees records and make sure it is correct.

You will have to pay it back if and when it eventually gets discovered but it can be arranged to be taken in instalements.

You did inform your manager so you have done nothing wrong in the first instance really but if I were you I would ask your manager if she had received any communication back from payroll about the outstanding amount.

It's audit time for many so it's likely to be picked up within a large company.

Could it have been down to an increase in tax code op?

Wow! Thanks for all the replies so far...

Shine ? I work for a large company and yes I would have thought/hoped that these things were checked. I take your point it could be picked up by a year-end audit - I hope so but I?m sceptical (not sure why).

Dizzy ? Thanks for the suggestion but having checked it isn?t down to an increased tax code

My conscience is nagging me so part of me wants to raise it again. But then again I don?t want to make the situation worse.

I also appreciate some perspective as I sometimes think I worry too much.

Wait and see.

I would just suggest that you put it in an email this time. Doesn't have to be heavy, just what you've said here - you've had another look and realised it's still the higher amount, did LM manage to find out if it was correct. Just worth having a written record of having raised it.

This is obvioulsy causing you stress, so you should raise it again just to get it off your mind.

a) You can't get in trouble for not reminding your manager to do something she said she would do.
b) Don't worry about getting your LM in trouble. To a large company £50 a month isn't that a big deal but it does need sorting out.
c) You will probably have to pay it all back, but as it's their error you will be able to pay it back in instalments, probably over no more than a year. However, the smaller the amount and the larger the company the more likely they are to be willing to write some or all of it off as a goodwill gesture for your honesty. So it's in your interests to raise it again.

It might be worth putting the extra aside from now on until it's sorted out so that at least your not building up a bigger debt.

Thanks again for all replies. Sorry for the delay in responding, have been away for a few days.

I think I?ve come to the decision to raise it with my Line Manager. Saying nothing just isn?t sitting right with me at the moment.

When I first raised this back in March I just think it got forgotten about soon afterwards, probably because there was just so much going on. So I?m going to raise it again, although I expect there will be some initial embarrassment and awkwardness.

I have a good relationship with my Line Manager which I don?t want to spoil ? I?ve had my fair share of awful Line Managers in the past so I really treasure this one, but as tartantots has recognised, this is causing me stress. I just hope she doesn't get any comeback from it.

Any further advice on how to approach / word this would be much appreciated. I have taken on board what has already been suggested.

Can you bypass your line manager and email payroll direct, tell them you are doing your end of year figures and have noticed this extra amount dating back to March.

Worst thing I can imagine happening is that your LM had infact alerted payroll in March and some one there had not picked it up but in fairness you can easily say you didn't want to cause your LM any problems by admitting you have already raised this before so I doubt it would cause any problems.

One email to payroll without mentioning yout line manager and then pay it back if needed, all sorted!

I'm not sure if I'm missing something, why are you so worried about your LM getting into trouble? It's not like she's deliberately colluding in you committing fraud and you're going to expose her.

Just to put it in perspective, it's a relatively small amount in company account terms, you've raised it to try and ensure you're not being incorrectly overpaid and are just double checking having not heard anything for a while. And you're aware of the possibility that they may arrange for you to repay it.

I would just drop an email to say something like 'I've just been sorting out my finances < at the end of the year / doing tax return / insert alternative > and realised I'm still being paid £x per month and I mentioned to you in March that I thought it might be about £50 more than it should. I know things here have been manic since then, but just wondered whether you'd managed to check it out.' Keep it low key. You haven't done anything wrong and the worst she's done is not chase it up very swiftly in the midst of busy times. Given the amount, I'm not sure why that would be a major issue.

HTH.