Delicious.

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Remember, if someone asks you if you verbally agreed to 24k, you say NO. You verbally agreed to 42k and have the paperwork to match. There is no discrepancy.
- I would be really worried that they'll get me somehow over this and fuck me up legally.

Not saying a word…but posting it to the world.
- Ah yes Mr Fesshole
- Sending it to an anonymous secret tweeting account. It’s like sending it to postsecret
  
  jeez. I haven't thought of postsecret in ages. Just checked and it looks like they're still going, too. Nice!
- We've got to give employers some incentive to start reading antiwork!

Wouldn't matter if they did. Unless you agree to the pay cut, you're getting the written amount. If they insist it's supposed to be 24k, stay quiet on it. Especially if they ask what you were offered. They can't force you to tell them, and the right to silence is one of those that you get regardless of who you are or where you're from.
If they try to change your wage, or fire you for not accepting the correction, that would be breach of contract or at least wrongful termination at least.... and that turns into a sizable settlement.
- "I don't recall" is a reasonable response
- Generally you only have a right to silence in self incrimination, just answering if the agreement was 24 or 42 likely wouldn't apply.
  
  What you really do here is play it dumb as hell. Oh, I'm being over-payed? Really? Wow.
  The key to keeping this up is not posting that you know about being over-payed and are doing nothing about it on the internet.
  
  Well, nobody can force you to speak, that's something you'll have to do willingly. So IMO, the right to silence is one of the things that is universal to existence, regardless of law.
  
  In a court of law, for sure. But for discussion between an employee and boss, I don't think that works the same way. I don't think your boss would have the right to compel speech out of you like that.
  Unless it works differently in the UK?

As someone on the receiving end of this, it may not pan out for you. I was verbally told I was getting a raise, then my paychecks showed I got a larger raise. I thought nothing of it and enjoyed the extra money, thinking of myself as a hard worker who was worth the extra.
Months later, someone noticed the discrepancy. Queue the company informing me that the overpayment will be taken in one lump sum from my next paycheck, which would have made me unable to make rent. I convinced them to spread the repayment across as many checks as they had overpaid, but that was a pretty miserable experience to say the least.
- Can't really happen here, since the contract had the twisted numbers as well. So they have that amount in writing with signatures and all.
  
  I think in some cases you could get fucked if it can be shown that it's an obvious mistake
- You in America? If so, you got screwed and need to call your state labor board.
  At least in Florida, they cannot pull that shit. If they put it in your bank account, it's yours. End. Think of all the scams people could pull if they could drop money in your account and then demand it back.
  SOURCE: Worked for a payroll firm. If we overpaid someone, or paid the wrong person/account, too damned bad, all we could do was ask nicely for it to be returned.
  CAVEAT: The bank can sure as hell pull your funds if it's their mistake.
  
  This is likely state dependent. I've seen them pull back funds from people in MD. That was some years ago now though so that may not still be possible there.
  
  They might not pull funds, but they can absolutely deduct that money from future checks.
- I'm pretty sure that would have been illegal where I live. Paying someone the same amount each month is an implicit contract. You can't just suddenly go "whoops" and not pay for a month.
  
  Depends on what's in the contract, black on white. If the contract says x amount and they pay you y (and you don't speak up), they can get that money back as it was a bookkeeping error.
  If the contract says the higher amount then they can't take it back, written contract always wins over verbal.
  
  In California at least, they're allowed to ask, but I don't think they're allowed to require.
- Meanwhile if they verbally promise you a raise and don't give it to you there's jack shit you can do because verbal agreements aren't enforcable when it's convenient for them.
  
  Which is sane. So anyway...
  Sorry, gotta go. That's my employer calling to verbally offer me a raise.
  (Over here laughing imagining all the people suing because, "I swear he offered me a raise! Nah, for real!")
- (Should be “cue the company” not queue)
- *cue
- It's your fault for blowing all the money.

As business barons are fond of saying, verbal agreements are only worth the paper they're printed on.

This is the answer to life, the universe, and everything.
- 42, but what was the question again?
  
  There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable.
  There is another theory which states that this has already happened.
  
  "What do you get if you multiply six by nine?"

In the event that they do require the employee to pay it all back, what I would have done was try to make the original wage work on the budget and stash the other £18k into low risk index funds to get some dividends and increased return. That way if paying it back were necessary, you'd at least make some money from the excess capital.
- If the paperwork says £42k then not much the company could possibly argue.
  
  True. Legally binding contacts definitely supersede their vocal claims to the contrary.

How is that delicious? That's still fucking nothing.

57 comments