Employer has double paid me, what are my rights if I want to keep the money?

[atticus]

Exactly.

You admit having received the money twice. As I said in the first reply to this thread, denying it is a lie. It is dishonest. As others have said, that dishonesty would expose you to the possibility of a criminal case against you.

I understand the advice you would like to be given. You will not get that advice here.

[echat11]

You will clearly need to pay it back, if you don't, they could commence legal proceedings to recover it, that is going to be 'hassle' for you.

What you could do is ask if it can be paid back over a period, Something you can afford.

Also I guarantee they are 100% sure that it's been paid, but it suits them to raise the issue in the way they have.
It isn't great administration for a big company to get it's payroll wrong.

[Sam101]

Hi Sam

Thanks for your response.

I appreciate the advice but I am not looking at staying with the company for a long time anyway.

I would rather just keep the money so my question is purely from a legal standpoint and not an ethical one. I appreciate it is not a good general life rule to live by to "get away with things".

In other words my mind is made up on what my desired outcome in this situation is, so now I simply need the legal/employment advice to get away with it.

Many thanks

regularguy

I am surprised that you even ask the question, when I feel sure that you know, or should know the answer. It is not your money, was given in error. End of story. No point in trying to expand this at all, but as I have tried to indicate, I feel that you have the wrong attitude for success in any position.

[echat11]

Forgot to add, if they start charging you interest on it, you will end up owing them more then the Ł1,500.

[theberenger]

This whole thing is absurd. You've only worked there for 5 weeks, so the moment their finance team/accountants get their act together, establish what actually happened and find out you're lying, I would be frankly astonished if they didn't dismiss you on the spot.

The current uncertainty is possibly because they outsource their payroll to an external firm, as my company does, and it'll take some time for an investigation to take place and the funds to be traced. My point being, in the end it won't matter whether you keep quiet or lie to them, they will eventually discover two transactions within the same month to your account, and when that happens you're done for.

I can't believe any business would continue to employ a person who demonstrably lied to them, particularly one as fresh in the door as you are.

[ULA]

This will be covered by employment law and under the Employment Rights Act 1996 section 14 your employer has the right to recover any overpayment of salary made to you, even if this was a mistake made on their part. So as the company has notified you they suspect they have made an overpayment then you are on notice that they are going to investigate and will find out that yes they have overpaid you. Once they can satisfy themselves of this fact then they have every right to recover. Given the amount then they should agree terms of the repayment over a period of time, which can be deducted from your salary until repaid.

If you did decide to leave without it being repaid then the company can pursue you through the Courts for repayment.

[KIP1]

Hello Regularguy,
When you have as many responses as you have saying much the same thing, I thinkyou have to concede you are not going to get the answer you are looking for. As tempting as it may be to keep the money (and I know what it's like being on a low wage), the potentIal consequences will make peanuts of this amount i- I think the previous posters have detailed these enough so I won't go there. Even the most disorganised company will have some kind of periodic or ongoing finalncial audit system which will likely uncover the discrepancy. Please don't be looking at these posts 6 or 12 months from now and wishing you had taken notice.

[DE DOGS]

Had a glance through. Me no matter what the point is, or the condition of your assets, it's time to pay it back, sorry but you know it's wrong, I'm puzzled why it should be questioned condoned.