Recovery Of Allowances

Hi, I would like to consult whether or not our employer has the right to recover allowances from us, their employees? We are receiving allowances from our employer for more than a year. According to HR, they need to recover the allowances from us retroactively because as stated in our contract, we are not entitled for any allowances. In reviewing our contract, there is no any stipulation or provision regarding we are entitled or not in the allowances. We are receiving the allowances for more than a year, and according to HR, it was a system error where our names have been included in the payroll system that we are receiving allowances from our employer. The question is, why they have just found out the system error now, now that I am obliged to pay 64,000 retroactively just to recover all the allowances I have received from our employer. Does my employer has the right to recover the allowances from us, even though it is not our fault. We are receiving the allowances since we started in the company, and we thought that it is all normal and it is not an error.

Hoping for your immediate response since the deduction will be implemented this January 2013. Thank you very much.!

Regards,

Geanne Clemente

if it's truly an error and you are not entitled, imo, you are liable to give it back.

Thank you for the reply.

But we, the employees, entitled for allowances or not are not clearly communicated to us even in our contract.

Are we still liable to give it back?

Thanks.

G3ann3 wrote:In reviewing our contract, there is no any stipulation or provision regarding we are entitled or not in the allowances.

If the contract doesn't specifically say you are entitled to the allowance, then you should return what was erroneously given.

Thanks for the consultation. It is very much appreciated. More powers! Merry Christmas!