Over paid?

beed84

Earlier this evening I was emailed a pay slip from my old job saying that I'm going to get paid x amount of money tomorrow – the same amount I've had for the past several months. However, I handed my months' notice in September and my last shift was October 13th. My first pay day was September 2017 and I was finally paid on October 21st 2018. I worked at the company for exactly 13 months and 1 day and I have had 13 payments from them. I know in my contract it said that I get paid one month in arrears, but I'm not sure if this payment is right or not, i.e. getting paid by them tomorrow. Obviously I want to make sure this money is actually mine before I think about spending it; if it isn't then I'll make sure it's returned. 

Right now I'm just mega blagged. I'm probably being really dim but can anyone very quickly figure out if this is a mistake or not?

scrumhalf

What does your contract say is the pay period? It may not be thew same as a calendar month.

axisus

I got some money once and wasn't sure so I just stuck it in my building society account for about a year. No one asked for it so at that point it became a nice extra bit of dosh for the GAS fund. 

Myranda

Having twice been overpaid and suffering the same outcome both times...

If the employer realises they can and will reclaim the money from the bank... even if its gone and you have no overdraft facility... 

Knowing its an over payment means you'll have no defence against them yanking back funds

viz

Ask them in writing to confirm whether it’s correct. 

TheMarlin

They can take it back if it’s an error. Proceed carefully. 

spark240

Are you owed holiday pay ?

richardhomer

Someone once told me ‘life is an interview for a job you don’t know you’ll apply for’ - honesty really is always the best policy....

FX_Munkee

TheMarlin said:

They can take it back if it’s an error. Proceed carefully. 

This.

axisus said:

I got some money once and wasn't sure so I just stuck it in my building society account for about a year. No one asked for it so at that point it became a nice extra bit of dosh for the GAS fund. 

And also this.

guitarfishbay

If it’s wrong they can ask for it back... mate of mine spent his in this situation, when they asked for it he didn’t have it and ended up needing to borrow money to pay it back. Not a great plan! I’d query it with them directly and not try and sneak the money 

Emp_Fab

You could always ask them instead of asking us.  They will definitely know if you're entitled to it or not.  However, asking them would alert them to the fact that you have the money, but that's not an issue because you've already said that you will return it if you're not entitled to it, yeah ?

Based on that, asking them is the correct move.

Fuengi

Emp_Fab said:

You could always ask them instead of asking us.  They will definitely know if you're entitled to it or not.  However, asking them would alert them to the fact that you have the money, but that's not an issue because you've already said that you will return it if you're not entitled to it, yeah ?

Based on that, asking them is the correct move.

...unless they have paid by mistake and don't ever realise!

I would set it aside and wait. At least 8 or 9 months, once their accounts are done for the year you're unlikely to get a recall. 

Do not spend it! 

Emp_Fab

...but that would mean him keeping it when he isn't entitled to, and he's already said he won't do that.

beed84

Well it’s gone in. I’ve stowed it away in my savings account until I figure out what’s going on. I’ll go through the right channels next week when I have some time.

Emp_Fab said:

You could always ask them instead of asking us. 

Yeah, my ex manager is bit of an arse. I’ve never had such an unprofessional boss and I intend to bypass her if possible. But I will speak to someone within the company.

ICBM

When I had been unemployed I got overpaid for housing benefit after I then got a job, and even after I wrote to the council specifically telling them I wasn’t eligible any more they still kept paying me! I asked the CAB what to do and they said that since I had properly informed them in writing, they couldn’t ask for any payments after that date back. After about six months the payments did finally stop and I got a snotty letter from the council saying that as they couldn’t make me pay it back, the amount would be deducted from any future claim. I don’t live in that city any more...

Nitefly

spark240 said:

Are you owed holiday pay ?

^ This is probably the answer.

roberty

You should probably do the right thing, but I probably wouldn't if it was me

545454

Also worth checking - was your first pay check when you started for a full month? The "month in arrears" thing can throw things a bit, especially if you were paid in arrears by the previous job too. 

axisus

Many years ago, back in the days when I used to get overtime pay (just a flat rate) they accidentally paid me time and a half once on 50 hours. I thought I'd better 'fess up' so I went and told my boss - who was very high up the pecking order. She always thought that I did an amazing job, and she said "it's their mistake, I'm going to make sure you keep it", and true to her word, I was allowed to keep it!

beed84

Nitefly said:

spark240 said:

Are you owed holiday pay ?

^ This is probably the answer.

I bloody hope so. However....

axisus said:

Many years ago, back in the days when I used to get overtime pay (just a flat rate) they accidentally paid me time and a half once on 50 hours. I thought I'd better 'fess up' so I went and told my boss - who was very high up the pecking order. She always thought that I did an amazing job, and she said "it's their mistake, I'm going to make sure you keep it", and true to her word, I was allowed to keep it!

...my manager isn’t so nice and is bit of a jobsworth. When I was due to finish I originally had holiday booked and was told that I owed them 10 hours. I’m a reasonable person and didn’t argue the point. I wanted to end on good terms. We agreed that I do an extra shift on Tuesday and – her words – “we’ll call it quits”.

I did the extra shift, but a couple of days later I realised it might’ve been the wrong Tuesday – it should’ve been the Tuesday after.

My penultimate shift came round. My manager said, “so it’s your last shift tomorrow?” 

“It is,” I replied, “But I think I came in on the wrong Tuesday.”

I wanted to be honest and hoped that my conscientious would imply that I’d be happy to work the extra day if she wanted me to.

”You did, but don’t worry about it. We’ll be fine.”

This time I was more explicit. “Are you sure? I don’t mind coming in if you’re going to be short staffed.”

”No it’s fine. We’ve got Joe in and such and such in... but in theory you do owe us 2.5 hours.”

This caught me off guard. “But we called it quits.”

In a very serious tone I was met with, “But that’s not the agreement we had.”

I was at a loss. I was trying to be reasonable and wasn’t sure what she wanted me to say. Provoked, I simply replied with what I hoped was undertoned with ‘fuck you then’, “Oh well, soz.”

Completely shut the conversation down.

dbphoto

In my early 20’s £2500 appeared in my account one day.

I had been self employed since I was 18, so not an employer making an error.

To this day I have no idea where it came from but I sure as hell kept my mouth shut at the time and didn’t question it with my bank.