Deal with an accidental overpayment made to an employee who has since left the organisation
Key points
An employer may make an accidental overpayment to an employee in relation to, for example, their basic pay, commission or expenses. This is not unusual where the employer operates a computerised payroll, or it could be the result of a clerical error.
The employer should act quickly on discovering an overpayment to an employee who has since left the organisation; it may be possible to recover the overpayment from the employee's final wages.
If the employer cannot recover the amount from the employee's final wages, it can ask the employee to repay it. If this fails, it should consider whether or not to bring a court claim to recover the overpayment.
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