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Overpaid maternity?

5 replies

Midge25 · 03/07/2008 13:01

I went off on maternity leave last year and informally notified my employer that I would not be returning due to a move out of area. This was documented on internal paperwork. I submitted my formal resignation last week. Since receiving this letter my employer has realised they have overpaid my occupational maternity pay as due to an error at their end, they thought I was returning and overlooked the original paperwork showing I did not intend to. Am annoyed as I rang in January to check my first payment was correct and that they knew I wasn't returning, and was assured everything was fine. Does anyone know my obligations here?

OP posts:
VanillaPumpkin · 03/07/2008 13:05

I was paid for FOUR months after I left work following maternity leave. I told them after the first mistake.
I had to pay it all back (but luckily thought I would and so hadn't spent it).

Midge25 · 03/07/2008 13:11

Problem for me is that as I had told them my plans, and rung to check, I have spent it! They wrote to me to tell me their mistake and the lady I spoke to kept mentioning that she had had to word the letter carefully because it was their error - I started wondering whose responsibility this is?

OP posts:
VanillaPumpkin · 03/07/2008 13:20

Ah. That is a problem then. I believe you will have to pay it back, but they have to accept installments from you. I am sure an expert will be along soon.

MaryBS · 04/07/2008 17:47

I'm not sure you'll have to pay it back, for the following reasons:

"In businesses operating computerised payroll systems, it is not unusual for an occasional error to arise resulting in a mistaken overpayment to an employee. This might take the form of an overpayment of basic rate pay or overtime pay or commission/bonus. The payslip is often fairly complex and employees sometimes fail to thoroughly check its contents. It can sometimes be a matter of weeks or even months before the employee or the business realise that an overpayment has taken place. In this situation, the legal question is whether the company are entitled to recover the overpayment and, if so, by what means.

In order to show that an overpayment is not recoverable, then the employee must demonstrate three things. Firstly, it must be shown that the overpayment was the fault of the company and not the employee. Secondly, it must have been reasonable for the employee not to know that they were being overpaid. Thirdly, the employee must have acted to their disadvantage or the assumption that the payment of salary was correct (for example by spending the money!). The most common difficulty for employees is the second condition since it is often obvious when an overpayment has occurred. It is not acceptable for an employee to assume that they have received a substantial increase in pay unless there is some reason to believe that this is the case."

I think you come in under all 3 counts. It was there fault, you couldn't know you were overpaid and you've assumed it was correct and spent it!

Got the information from this website, but it IS available from the government, just haven't found it yet... but read it for the relevant government act etc to quote:

www.lemon-co.co.uk/article_overpayments.php

MaryBS · 04/07/2008 17:49

sorry, "their" fault

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