TSC Salary Overpayment and How Recovery Techniques are Taken
TSC Salary Overpayment and How Recovery Techniques are Taken. When a current or former employee receives money to which they are not entitled, this is known as a salary overpayment.
An overpayment may be the result of a number of factors, including inaccurate or poorly understood advice from the officer in charge, improper documentation and processing, system mistake, and late reporting of changes impacting an employee’s pay.
Despite the fact that overpayments may happen without the employee in question’s fault, the Commission is required to recover them, manage funds effectively and efficiently in accordance with the Financial Management Act, and recover any money paid to an employee to which they were not entitled, with or without the employee’s consent, until the money is repaid in full.
Similar to this, all employees must be aware that paying themselves more money than they are worth can affect their future earnings and put them in a difficult financial situation.
Therefore, they must show due care by informing the employer of any erroneous payments as soon as they are discovered, issuing a refund, or negotiating and accepting a payback plan within a reasonable timeframe.
SANCTION
Every TSC employee is required to act with integrity and trust whenever there is an overpayment. An employee’s lack of good faith will be inferred if they do any of the following:
(i) Failed, intentionally or negligently, to ensure that the Commission received pertinent information affecting the amount payable;
(ii) Knewly failed to bring an overpayment to the Commission’s attention;
(iii) Failed to make inquiries or check employment details with the Commission when they could reasonably have done so;
(vi) Failure to act in good faith shall be considered as a serious infraction that may result in disciplinary action and criminal actions. (v) Failed to notify the Commission of an obvious error.
Disciplinary action (i) In line with the Code of Regulation for Teachers and the Human Resource Policies and Procedure Manual for secretariat employees (2018), disciplinary action will be taken against any employee found responsible for an overpayment of salary.
(ii) The CORT regulation 168 and the secretariat staff’s 134 (5) Human Resource Policies and Procedure Manual both state that a head of institution or supervisor who fails to report an employee’s departure will be subject to disciplinary action and will be charged to the extent that the commission suffered a loss.
(iii) The following rules must be followed in order to impose a fee on any employee who causes salary overpayments:
• In cases where wage overpayments have been deemed unrecoverable, the Commission must seek compensation from the employee(s) who caused the loss in full.
• A surcharge equal to the interest rate set by the Central Bank may be applied in cases where the salary overpayment is recoverable.
• If an employee or member of the staff is found to be at fault for salary overpayments by the director of human resource management and development (HRM&D) and/or the director of field services (FS), the matter will be forwarded for disciplinary action.
Crimes are committed
The Commission, along with other state agencies, has the authority to suggest that criminal charges be brought against ANY accused employees and their proxies.
Recovery techniques
The Commission must implement a number of measures to recover salary overpayments, including but not limited to:
(i) Recovering salary overpayments totaling at least one-third of each employee’s basic pay and ensuring that each employee receives one-third of their basic pay as net pay.
(ii) Complete repayment of all unpaid overpayments from salary arrears and any remaining balance via payroll.
(iii) Altering the rate of salary overpayment recovery by using pay increases and/or salary adjustments.
(iv) Using a demand letter (Appendix I) to inform the employee of any overpayment.
(v) Starting legal action to recover overpaid salaries from departing employees.
(vi) Advising the Public Finance Management Act of 2015’s Section 157 to write off any irrecoverable overpayment. The Commission secretary must be satisfied of the following, among others:
• The loss is irrecoverable despite reasonable efforts to recoup the damages.
• It would be more advantageous for the Commission to settle its claim or waive it rather than make additional attempts to recoup the loss.
Note: In compliance with governmental laws, the full amount of any unpaid balance will become immediately due and payable if the employee departs the commission before the entire overpayment has been recouped.
Calculation of Overpayment of Salary
If applicable, statutory deductions from gross earnings rather than net pay must be used to calculate overpayments. Any one of the following situations could lead to it:
(1) Ignorance
The amount overpaid will be calculated using the employee’s basic compensation for the number of days they were away. Any statutory deductions cannot be reduced in any way.
(2) Abandonment
The net overpayment is calculated as basic salary plus all allowances minus statutory deductions.
(3) Terminations of Service
If an employee is kept on the payroll after the date of departure from employment owing to resignation, transfer of employment, termination, or retirement, there may have been an overpayment. A surplus must be reported as basic pay plus benefits less required deductions.
1. Resignation
(i) If an employee quits while still on probation, they must provide seven (7) days’ notice or alternatively receive payment equal to seven (7) days’ salary.
(ii) If an employee leaves their position after completing their probationary period, they must provide one (1) month’s written notice or pay one (1) month’s salary in lieu of notice.
(b) Service transfer
Any applicant for a job in the government shall be required to submit the following paperwork:
(i) A written application.
(ii) A duplicate of the letter of appointment.
(iii) A clearance certificate
The Commission will provide a last pay certificate and a formal release letter following the submission of the aforementioned requirements.
(c) Retirement
(i) Salary overpayment may happen if an employee continues to be paid after being forced to retire. It is listed as base salary + benefits minus required deductions.
(ii) Any employee who wishes to voluntarily leave their position must provide three months’ written notice or one month’s salary in lieu of notice.
(d) Demise
If a teacher is kept on the payroll after passing away, a wage overpayment could happen. From the day after the death to the date of withdrawal from payroll, it will be calculated. The home allowance, however, must be paid in full for the month of the death.
(e) Economic Crimes and other serious offences
Any employee who is detained in accordance with the law is not entitled to compensation during that time. However, if found guilty of the crime in court, the defendant will be given a one-half (12) basic wage, a medical allowance, and a housing allowance while they are off the clock. Any overpayment that takes place during this time frame must be calculated if an employee is still receiving full pay as of the charge date.
(f) Professional Misconduct
This includes, but is not limited to, exam irregularities, insubordination, neglect of duty, and infamous conduct. An employee who has been interdicted for one of these infractions is entitled to half of their basic wage plus housing benefits up until the matter is resolved. Any overpayment will be calculated if the employee receives full pay throughout the interdiction.
(g) Other Infractions
These include, but are not limited to, unethical behavior, financial mismanagement or misappropriation, the use of forged documents, forgery, impersonation, collaboration, and persistent absenteeism. Any employee who is terminated for one of these offenses forfeits all compensation and is given no income.
If an employee stays on the payroll after the interdiction date, any overpayment that happens will be calculated using the full basic salary plus any allowances less statutory deductions.