Maq Posted June 1, 2017 Share Posted June 1, 2017 Dont suppose anyone on the TAMB is qualified to give a wee bit of legal advice?! My wife was on maternity leave for a year, and was due to go back in April. However we've since left where we were living and moved to Scotland, so she advised them back in February that she wouldn't be returning at the end of her maternity leave. She asked HR how much she would have to pay back from her maternity pay. They looked into it, and came back and said that because of leave accrued over the year, they would actually owe her £1200. We didn't really believe this, despite them insisting, and asked them to put it in writing, which they did, along with confirmation that she'd get the payment at the end of May. May came and went with no payment, so she phoned and queried it yesterday. They've looked into it, and now say they've made a mistake and she owes them £500! They asked if she was going to pay by card, or if they needed to start the 'debt recollection' process, as if she'd done something wrong! They've since written an email confirming the amount they say she owes, and apologising for their mistake.... Do we just have to pay this, aye? We have a letter from them earlier 'confirming' that they owed us money, but now an email 'confirming' they'd made a mistake and asking for payment ASAP. Do we just pay it? Don't want any debt collection companies involved, and we have the money kept aside- just infuriating they assured us one thing, and we planned for it, and now they're demanding payment! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaid Posted June 1, 2017 Share Posted June 1, 2017 I'm not a solicitor but if you genuinely owe the money then you owe the money regardless of what they told you first. Given that they've previously got the calculation wrong it might be worth querying that and escalating it within the HR department. They might realise they've screwed up and write it off. On the other hand they might look at it again and then decide you owe more than £500. It'll almost certainly cost you more in solicitors fees than £500 if you want to contest it. Might be an idea to put it down to experience and just pay it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killiefaetheferry Posted June 1, 2017 Share Posted June 1, 2017 1 hour ago, Maq said: Dont suppose anyone on the TAMB is qualified to give a wee bit of legal advice?! My wife was on maternity leave for a year, and was due to go back in April. However we've since left where we were living and moved to Scotland, so she advised them back in February that she wouldn't be returning at the end of her maternity leave. She asked HR how much she would have to pay back from her maternity pay. They looked into it, and came back and said that because of leave accrued over the year, they would actually owe her £1200. We didn't really believe this, despite them insisting, and asked them to put it in writing, which they did, along with confirmation that she'd get the payment at the end of May. May came and went with no payment, so she phoned and queried it yesterday. They've looked into it, and now say they've made a mistake and she owes them £500! They asked if she was going to pay by card, or if they needed to start the 'debt recollection' process, as if she'd done something wrong! They've since written an email confirming the amount they say she owes, and apologising for their mistake.... Do we just have to pay this, aye? We have a letter from them earlier 'confirming' that they owed us money, but now an email 'confirming' they'd made a mistake and asking for payment ASAP. Do we just pay it? Don't want any debt collection companies involved, and we have the money kept aside- just infuriating they assured us one thing, and we planned for it, and now they're demanding payment! Your wife is not required to pay back any of her SMP(Statutory Maternity Pay) , which is composed of 90% of her usual weekly pay for 6 weeks, and 20 weeks at £100 per week. If they are asking for nearly £600, then that's £100 per week from the first 6 weeks ? Which would suggest your Mrs was getting full pay (not 90%) at a grand a week ? She only has to consider paying if it was explicitly stated in her contract that there would be a clawback if she failed to return for a minimum period - usually 3 months. But if she was on four and a half grand a month then pay it, as it's only really pocket change to you two rich barstewards !!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thplinth Posted June 1, 2017 Share Posted June 1, 2017 Ask them for a detailed breakdown of how they arrived at 1200 quid in you favour and then versus 500 not in your favour. They changed their assumptions somewhere. Get the details. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maq Posted June 1, 2017 Author Share Posted June 1, 2017 55 minutes ago, thplinth said: Ask them for a detailed breakdown of how they arrived at 1200 quid in you favour and then versus 500 not in your favour. They changed their assumptions somewhere. Get the details. Good advice, thanks all of you. I think I'll go with this - ask them for their full calculations, +£1200 to - £500 is a fair swing! Its just so annoying that they got it so wrong, when she asked them again and again to confirm it before! (She certainly wasn't on anywhere near 4grand a month btw- if she was, she'd be going back to work and i'd be staying at home full time with the bairn!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killiefaetheferry Posted June 1, 2017 Share Posted June 1, 2017 12 minutes ago, Maq said: (She certainly wasn't on anywhere near 4grand a month btw- if she was, she'd be going back to work and i'd be staying at home full time with the bairn!) In which case their calculation is flawed. Ask them to clarify what they were paying - SMP, as I have described above, or more than SMP.......and is it the 'extra' on top they want back ? Send me a PM if you want. I am qualified in this stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killiefaetheferry Posted June 1, 2017 Share Posted June 1, 2017 Do you have anything that suggests she was getting CMP (Contractual Maternity Pay) for 8 weeks - which means 8 weeks full pay - as opposed to 6 weeks at 90 % ? It may be the difference they are after. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
euan2020 Posted June 1, 2017 Share Posted June 1, 2017 1 hour ago, Maq said: Good advice, thanks all of you. I think I'll go with this - ask them for their full calculations, +£1200 to - £500 is a fair swing! Its just so annoying that they got it so wrong, when she asked them again and again to confirm it before! (She certainly wasn't on anywhere near 4grand a month btw- if she was, she'd be going back to work and i'd be staying at home full time with the bairn!) don't do emails - make it formal, and write and mail letter, send scanned copy of you want, and request them to respond in kind with appropriate seniority signing the letters. They need to explain in full what your wife is entitled to contractually and how they arrived at their calculation - should also ask for all the Company Policies on Maternity Leave I tend to find I know our Company Policies better than HR because i been there 14 years, and can dance around a lot of the grey area's especially when they were trying to make me redundant last year - typically the HR guys know jack shit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killiefaetheferry Posted June 1, 2017 Share Posted June 1, 2017 14 minutes ago, euan2020 said: typically the HR guys know jack shit Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
they've_been_suckered Posted June 2, 2017 Share Posted June 2, 2017 My HR team are a shambles. I've notified them in writing I'm taking 1week paternity leave weeks ago coupled with a MATB1 and had no response. Im not making too much noise though because if they make an arse of it they'll end up giving me a weeks salary in error Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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