On 8 May, 06:55, "Top Man" wrote:
> At my workplace I do extra training work with students for which I get a
> small amount of money extra.
>
> In February I got a little more more than normal (about =A3400) but this w=
as
> covered by a letter from my employer telling me that I was to receive this=
> higher amount a few weeks before.
>
> Yesterday I was told that my employer made a mistake and the amount paid
> should have been what it normally is!!! They will recoup the extra pay by
> not paying me for the extra work I do until the money is repaid.
>
> Is this legal? After all I have a letter from them saying that was the mon=
ey
> to be paid to me and that's what I got!!!
>
> TM
An interesting and potentally complex issue which hasn't as yet been
at all adequately answered - but what's new !!
Generally, a person making a payment under mistake of fact may be
estopped from pursuing recovery of the overpayment. For this to
happen, three conditions must be satisfied. First, that the payer (the
employer) in some way represented the payment was actually due to the
employee. Secondly, the payee must show that this inaccurate
information led him to believe he was entitled to the money. Thirdly,
the payee must show that because of the mistake, he changed his
position in reliance upon the payment so as to make it inequitable for
him to repay the money (Chitty on Contracts, 25th Edition, para 1961).
This may well be the case with you and you might well politely warn
them to avoid deducting the overpayment on these grounds.
Unless your contract of employment specifically gives the employer the
right to deduct from your pay any overpayments made in error your
employer cannot lawfully do so and it's just a civil debt and possibly
not enforceable for the above reasons.
But if your contract does - and many do - it's much more complex but
still probably worth trying to rely on the above, although your case
would be much weaker. |