Paying back an employer.

[babyC]

Hi!

I was wondering if anyone could help me out with a question I'm asking on behalf of my partner, please?

His work started to pay him a lot more money a month for almost a year. At the time I said he should ask them if it was correct, but he said he wasn't too worried as he was working a lot of extra hours anyway.

Recently they've told him that it was all in error and they've now demanded that he pay back over �11,000! They want over �400 a month back out of his (corrected) salary.

I said he was a bit of a plank for not telling them sooner, but he's ever so slightly(!) stubborn...

Is there anything he can do to help himself as though it was entirely their fault?

Greatly appreciate any advice anyone can offer. Thanks in advance. :-)

[Law Man1856]

Hi babyC,

He owes the money and did not earn it therefore he needs to repay it.

The fact the employer mistakenly overpaid him does not mean he can keep the money. He can repay at an reasonable rate but �400 a month does seems excessive, what has he done will the extra?

If it were to go to court an income / expenditure would be asked for to evaluate his ability to pay.

It is far better to stop being stubborn and come to an agreement with his employer, the employer will not want to go the court route as it is expensive and take a long time.

[bednobs]

its a bit farfetched to say the fault lies entirely witht he employer!
anyway, i agree with the above respondant, the only way he can make it easier is to offer to deal with the employer to pay for longer at a smaller rate

[JRB]

Sadly yes he has to repay the money paid him in error - however as it was the employer's fault he should come to some arrangement wherebye he pays back the extra money, not in a lump sum but in installmemts that he can manage, with no penalty applied. Most employers would agree to this so I suggest that he puts it in writing and gets their agreement in writing. If it ever went to court this sort of approach would stand him in good stead.

[babyC]

Thank you all!

Law man1856, luckily he put a lot of it into bonds, so he's actually been earning a bit of money from it.

bednobs, LOL! Bloody pig-headed, he is. He knows he should've said something before now (but still won't admit I was right all along :o)).

JRB, luckily there's been no penalty applied to the amount. As I said, he hasn't actually spent the money, but as it's in bonds I think he's going to opt to pay it back in the installments they've requested so that he still makes a little bit from it.

Thank you all again, you've been very helpful. Men, eh? (...joke! ;o))

[Finance Guy]

If he hasn't spent it, the morally correct thing to do is to repay it all immediately, in the vain hope of recovering some tiny fragment of morality.

I cannot believe that people are so morally bankrupt as to effectively steal from an employer and them take advantage of kindness on he employers part, by repaying the debt in instalments and having the cheek to moan about it - despite having stashed the whole sum away in bonds, KNOWING it was wrong to be in receipt of it.

That is no employee that I would want and Mr BabyC should be ashamed of himself (I imagine he is quite proud though)!

At the very least, he has killed his career as who would trust him now? Not I.

Mr Lorzy Lor