# Repayment of overpaid wages?



## Petal (23 Mar 2006)

My friend was told that she had been overpaid for the last 9 (!) months. A genuine error had occurred in HR. They now require her to pay back the money, which is of considerable amount, and which puts her under financial pressure. Is there any legislation that would protect her from having to repay the money? She was no aware of being overpaid. This is in the public sector by the way.

Any help greatly appreciated.


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## ClubMan (23 Mar 2006)

Petal said:
			
		

> Is there any legislation that would protect her from having to repay the money?


Probably not and many contracts of employment contain specific clauses dealing with such situations and the clawback of such overpayments.


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## jhegarty (23 Mar 2006)

Petal said:
			
		

> My friend was told that she had been overpaid for the last 9 (!) months. A genuine error had occurred in HR. They now require her to pay back the money, which is of considerable amount, and which puts her under financial pressure. Is there any legislation that would protect her from having to repay the money? She was no aware of being overpaid. This is in the public sector by the way.
> 
> Any help greatly appreciated.



how much are we talking about ?


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## Petal (23 Mar 2006)

Oh it's not that much, it's about 2K, but she's not a huge earner and paying off a mortgage and a car loan, so it's not exactly nice getting landed with that kind of repayment!


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## fobs (23 Mar 2006)

She most probably has to pay it back but could negotiate the period at which it should be repaid. If it was overpaid over 9 months then could she have the same period to pay it back?


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## ClubMan (23 Mar 2006)

While the employer is most likely entitled to claw back the overpayments they will presumably do so in a way that doesn't unnecessarily inconvenience the employee?

_Post crossed with fobs'._


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## Petal (23 Mar 2006)

Well, they're trying to push her into paying it back quickly, but I suppose they'll come to some sort of arrangement. She had hoped that there was some sort of clause in legislation saying that after a certain amount of time the employer could not claim it back....


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## ajapale (23 Mar 2006)

See also overpayment of salary in the keypost section above.

aj


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## cloughy (23 Mar 2006)

becareful that she only repays the net amount and not the gross, because if she was overpaid last year then paid too much tax, talk to employer and arrange for teh amount to be deducted from salary over a period of time. How did she not notice that the gross salary was not 1/12 or 1/52 of annual salary ? would be a fairly obvious calculation and easy to spot especially if working there for any period of time.


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## Petal (23 Mar 2006)

What happened was that they put her up one increment too far, so instead of advancing her to level two they put her onto level three, so the gross vs annual was ok and she had no way of knowing that they had done that mistake.


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## ClubMan (23 Mar 2006)

Surely she was notified in writing about any changes to he pay/conditions?


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## ajapale (23 Mar 2006)

She should talk to the union rep. What usually happens in these situations is that the employer and employee agree that some reasonable amount be deducted over a period of time.

Its not the HSE by any chance is it?

aj


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## Petal (23 Mar 2006)

No it's not the HSE but it's the public sector. She was informed in writing, that's standard, but she wasn't aware that she had been put up "to far" so to speak. They don't really make the payscales available unless you really ask for them. Now I'm a turning every penny so I'm always fully up to date on everything and I would know what increment I'm due, but she's only been with the organisation a couple of years and I guess she was just too trusting thinking HR would know what they're doing...


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## Miner (24 Mar 2006)

Have a look at the bottom of this page - [broken link removed]


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## Petal (24 Mar 2006)

Yeah it doesn't look too good for her. I'll keep you posted on the outcome. She has requested written confirmation of the issue and clarification on the impact of tax, pension and PRSI payments...
I'll keep you all posted


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## CMCR (24 Mar 2006)

This issue is addressed in the law through . That is, the section dealing with "Regulation of certain deductions made and payments received by employers".

The employer is entitled to seek repayment of the overpaid money and the employee is obliged to repay it.  If this person works in the public service, the general arrangement is that you agree the amount and period over which the repayment is to be made.  Usually they are flexible enough over issues such as this  - the amount to be repaid each week/fortnight/month (or whenever you are paid) is usually an amount that will not cause you hardship. 

I've been in the same position myself in the past and was overpaid for a similar timeframe so I know how irritating this can be.


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## dodo (18 Apr 2006)

Happened to the wife for 6 mths we did not notice as we where working of my wage saving hers,  the wife spotted it herself had no prob paying in full but person in HR who s mistake it was took issue that she did not spot it herself and had an issue with this demanding money to be paid asap wife who was going to pay there and then took offence and we got solicitor friend involved and paid it over 18mths she in HR even had the cheek to look for interest you can imagine what our answer was, you pay what you can afford


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## Petal (20 Apr 2006)

Yes, in the end she had to repay and they came to some arrangement where she can repay it over a certain amount of time.


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