Worker wrongly paid $200 an hour told to repay

A tannery worker, whose employer accidentally paid him over $200 an hour instead of the $13 he was entitled to, has been ordered to pay back over $3600.

Back in 2005, Vaughan Williams was working at Wallace Corporation Ltd's tannery in Waitoa, near Morrinsville, when an administrative error meant for one week's wages he was paid $201.08 an hour instead of his usual $13 an hour.

The overpayment was $3619.79 but in its just-released decision on the company's application to get the money back, the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) said ``the error was only discovered when another employee reported to management that Mr Williams had been bragging about the overpayment''.

At the time, Williams agreed to pay the money back at the rate of $75 a week from his pay but then quit the job and did not make further repayments.

ERA Auckland member Janet Scott ordered Williams to pay back the amount he owned the tannery and to contribute $500 to its legal costs.

NZPA