Over paid while sick some questions?

I wonder if anyone can help with this query.
If you were overpaid by your employer in error do you have to return all the money immediately or can you return it a little at a time.
I am meeting with HR on Wednesday morning and would like to know if I can arrange to pay back in installments.
The sum involved is about 3K.

The regulations about deductions that can be made from an employee's payslip are set out in the Payment of Wages Act, 1991. [broken link removed] sets out the actual rules regarding deductions.

The bottom line is that you are obliged to re-pay the overpayment. As regards the method of re-payment however I might suggest you read through the terms of Section 5 (in particular to parts 3, 4, 5) to see what the law actually specifies.

As far as I know, the salary deductions made to recover the overpayment should be fair and reasonable but again you would need to read through Section 5 to check this exactly.

Staff in the Employment Rights Unit at the Dept. Enterprise, Trade and Employment will be able to answer this question definitively. (Tel: 1890 201 615). By the way, I would not recommend you go into that meeting without checking out all the legal avenues beforehand.

CMCR>

Thanks very much for that, will print it all off and read it carefully.

I have heard of a 'rule of thumb' that such repayments should be made over a similar timescale to the overpayment, i.e. if they were overpaying you for 6 months, you should repay over a 6 month period.