Received court claim form for overpaid wages that are being paid back monthly

[twig04]

Hello,

I have a worrying situation and am wondering if anyone can help me.

I was overpaid at my previous employer and have made a post about it in another forum on this website linked below.

http://legalbeagles.info/forums/show...vious-employer

Since the above I have made another payment of £50 while seeking more advice from the CAB and some free legal advice but have then received a claim form! I was advised that as I have left the job this isn't an employment issue and is now a civil debt.

I've no idea what to do and what my options are in this situation. Has the employer acted too quickly by not taking proper measures to reach an agreement? I mean I was making payments for each month and was fully trying to resolve the issue.

I had also talked to Unite who weren't too much help but advised me that the employer cannot attempt to reclaim the overpaid amount over a shorter period from which it was paid.

I have a little bit of money in an emergency account and might be able to borrow some money from my family to try and pay it off in one go, but it will make life really tight for a fair period of time.

Any advice would be really appreciated.

[twig04]

Re: Received court claim form for overpaid wages that are being paid back monthly

I'm reading some of the sticky post which say that I should request documents that have been mentioned in the claim form?

Should I be putting in a request for the agreement of 160 a month? There may not be any documentation for this as there wasn't any agreement. My employer just gave me a letter saying I have agreed to pay 160 a month even though I hadn't and I had tried to make an offer of 50 to which he said "um no".

Also in my contract there isn't anything in regards to an overpayment but from my research it seems that this turns into a civil debt after leaving?

Is there some pre action protocol that should have been followed by my employer before putting a claim in?

I don't feel as if he attempted to properly reach a solution even though I was willing to talk about it.

[Amethyst]

Re: Received court claim form for overpaid wages that are being paid back monthly

Hi Twig xx Apologies for delay in responding. I'm just going to have a read of your other thread then I'll come back to you xx

[Amethyst]

Re: Received court claim form for overpaid wages that are being paid back monthly

Okay it seems you made an agreement with your employer to repay the overpayment at £160 a month. It is that agreement on which they are suing you.

Presumably your main aim is to avoid having a CCJ set against you? Understandably. However if you do an admission and offer to pay of £50 a month then you would have an installment order ( of either £50 if that is backed up by your income/expenditure - or a different amount) and would have the CCJ registered.

So negotiating with your ex employer is likely to be your best option, potentially via a consent order. I would put together your income and expenditure sheet to work out what is reasonably affordable, and then write to the employer with this asking for the claim to be put on hold under a consent order while you make the payments offered - they then have the security that if you miss payments they can just obtain judgment against you and enforce, and you have a payment set and no CCJ against you.

Will give you a hand with a letter to them, we can combine it with a request for documents and a hint that they aren't just going to walk over you in the case as you intend to defend, to try get them to accept.

Suprised CAB didn't get you to back up your new offer of £50 a month with your IE sheet, as that might have avoided this.

Yes they have failed on preaction although it sounds like they made a counter offer ( £137? ) and a threat of legal action if you refused that ? was that in writing ?

[twig04]

Re: Received court claim form for overpaid wages that are being paid back monthly

Hello Amethyst,

Thank you so much for getting back to me.

Yes an agreement of 160 a month was made though I did ask for a lesser amount at the time which he refused.

Yes I would like to avoid a CCJ. So I would need to contact my previous employer with a request for documents and provide an income and expenditure sheet?

Would it still be reasonable to ask for a lower amount than 137 as even that is difficult?

Yes he offered a reduced amount of 137 after refusing to adjust a couple of times. That was in writing. He threatened with court action from the very first letter that had been sent out to me.

I've made payments since the last letter and hadn't replied as I wanted to get some advice before I did. The very last letter demanded the difference of 87 with a threat of court action.

I have made payments every month since this was discovered and have tried to deal with it in a manner that satisfies us both.

I hope that all makes sense and sorry for any unclarity.

Again thanks for your help with this. You have given me some reassurance!

[CLL1]

Re: Received court claim form for overpaid wages that are being paid back monthly

From the date you received the overpayment to now, has there been a change in your position, which lead you to spend the money? If so, what was that change?

[CLL1]

Re: Received court claim form for overpaid wages that are being paid back monthly

Just read your other post which I have contributed to, sorry.

You may have a defence, but it wouldn't be particularly strong. It boils down to whether you want to admit, offer a monthly amount that is affordable, and pay off, or simply defend it and try your luck.

[twig04]

Re: Received court claim form for overpaid wages that are being paid back monthly

Thanks for your reply CLL1.

I started working there last year at the end of April and was living at my parents house at the time. In August I moved out a rented flat in another town, so there was a change of position.

My previous employer wrote that since the agreement to now I said there wasn't a change of position. Which is true, I did say that, but in the very same letter I wrote that the amount of £160 was unreasonable and unaffordable for me from the very start.

At that point he sent me a letter back saying how shocked he was that I didn't bring it up before (I asked for payment of 50 at the very start but he refused) and started speculating on what my current salary is.

I did make a mistake at the start by not negotiating the payments further, but he originally came at me with an amount of 290 without removing tax or NI. So I wanted the figure of that reduced to one without tax/NI. At that point I asked for payments of 50 a month, but he flatly refused.

An amount of around 1300 is difficult for me to pay out in one go, but if he were to receive it in monthly payments over the next 26 months, it would not be a burden to him. I also talked to Unite the union who advised me that he can't claim the overpaid amount quicker than it was paid out, so is this not breaking that rule, or is that not applicable to this situation?

With my new job I also relocated to another town once more as the travel costs were getting large.

I don't know if any of the above would mean that I can go for a change of position but your advice would be very helpful.

[twig04]

Re: Received court claim form for overpaid wages that are being paid back monthly

Also, I will start putting together a letter to negotiate with my previous employer with a consent order.

I will research what a consent order is and try and write something fitting. Would I need to come back with a higher amount for this to be successful?

He also did say in all of his letters that if he takes this to court I will be liable for the full amount. Although again, can they claim it back quicker than it was paid out?

I'll put something up here soon. Is there any other documents that will help?

Again thanks for your help Amethyst and CLL1.

[CLL1]

Re: Received court claim form for overpaid wages that are being paid back monthly

Also, I will start putting together a letter to negotiate with my previous employer with a consent order.

I will research what a consent order is and try and write something fitting. Would I need to come back with a higher amount for this to be successful?

He also did say in all of his letters that if he takes this to court I will be liable for the full amount. Although again, can they claim it back quicker than it was paid out?

I'll put something up here soon. Is there any other documents that will help?

Again thanks for your help Amethyst and CLL1.

I've never heard of the rule re: claiming back quicker, sorry.