telling me that my salary, in my contract, is wrong, and collecting the 'overpayment'

[SilverStuddedBlue]

Can any one help me, please? 6 months ago I was promoted and I signed and sent back my new conditions of employment. The salary is clearly stated in this contract. Now my employer has told me that the sum is wrong. They have deducted the 'excess' amount from my last pay packet, and from next month will be reclaiming the excess paid over the last 6 months. No-one had checked my conditions of employment.

I have had no written notice of any intention to reduce my pay (by a noticeable amount) nor, despite repeated demands over the last month, have they supplied me with a written reason. Nor have they reinstated my pay or retracted the intended repayment.

The only warning I had was from my manager who said that he'd heard that I'd been overpaid in error, but that nothing would happen until I'd given my agreement in writing over what would happen. I'd assumed that it was a payroll error. But its not, the sum is stated in my contract.

I am expected to go into negotiation with my manager. Where do I stand?

I'm nervous because I'm on 12 months probation, and working almost single handed on an extremely complex and novel project with a high probability of going pear shaped (which until I took over had been managed by someone on a grade higher). That said, I think my manager is on my side. Verbally I was told that my probation relates to lack of assertiveness skills, and is not a technical issue. I've nothing in writing, and have had no appraisals since starting my job. That said, the tasks I have been allocated aren't part of my new job description at all, and someone is backfilling my new job.

Oh, how did that post get so long? if you've read this far then it won't take much longer to give me some advice, will it? Please - in a non-assertive way...

It's a pretty crappy situation you're in.

Have a look at this link.

I'm not an expert though. Morally they're wrong, whether or not they are legally wrong is another matter.

Good luck. I am sure you'll get a bit of help and advice by tomorrow.

Im not an expert at all but Im sure ribena or flowerly will be around tomorrow who can advise you.

I would recommend that you look at unauthorised deductions from earnings in the meanwhile and also the ACAS site.

Did your payslip this month show a deduction or just a revised basic?

thanks, even at this late hour DailyWail and DietCoke!

Deduction this month has been basic, and I assume next month will commence repayments, except that no-one's actually told me yet.

I've a solid email trail of requests from me though.

I don't want to cause trouble for my manager; we make a good team and he is very helpful to me technically.

On the pay, can I get something straight? You were offered a promotion, took it, signed a new contract with new pay, and have been paid according to that contract? Did you believe in good faith that the amount in the contract was right?

If that's the case, no, I don't think your employer can unilaterally change the amount and take the money back. They can reclaim payroll errors. They could reclaim if, for example, you had been fully aware that the amount in the contract was bonkers (say they'd added an extra 0, so it said that you were paid £300,000 not £30,000), because you couldn't in good faith have believed the contract was right. They can't just change their minds on how much the pay is. It would be a change to terms and conditions (see here.

You could also reclaim the amounts that they have taken off as an unlawful deduction from wages (see www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/Employees/EmploymentContractsAndConditions/DG_10028079 here]].

If you need to show assertiveness for your probation, off you go .

Sorry, link went a bit off... here

I'm pretty sure you can tell them to fuck off under the law of estoppel

What Ribena said. Assuming it wasn't some ridiculous amount and you should have known it was wrong, they can't just decide six months down the line that they wish they'd put something else in the contract and now want to change it.

Hi, belatedly thanks to all, I've been working away for a few days and forgot my mumsnet password so just lurked on this thread. I've checked out the websites and contacted ACAS, as a preliminary. The amount of money concerned is a very small percentage of my salary; added up until I retire it would pay off a big chunk of mortgage tho'!

The payment is a discretionary one which all other technical grades in my team receive, and reflects the difficulty recruiting adequately qualified and experienced staff.

Just that someone made a decision it wouldn't apply to the newly created most senior grades. Only a handful were advertised, all externally, and only half were filled (all from internal promotions). Irony.

I've asked for meeting minutes, emails etc where the decision not to apply the discretionary payment was recorded. I'm watching the currently empty space.

I've been asking for nearly a month for the unlawful deduction from my salary to be reinstated pending the outcome of negotiations on my contract. See comment above re empty space.

Soooo stressfull, I made a bad mistake today at work after sleeping badly thinking about it. The mumsnet support and advice from you all has strengthened my resolve. I still want to remain on good terms with my manager. He's a good guy, and honest, and I genuinely want to support him. I'm annoyed that this situation is testing our relationship in this negative way.