Bank worker paid double for three years
By Dan Newling for MailOnline
Updated: 05:20 EST, 29 April 2009
A bank worker who was paid almost double her salary for three years has taken her bosses to a tribunal after they demanded the money back.
Defiant: Natasha Keenan with husband Brent
Part-time complaints adviser Natasha Keenan, 36, says she did not realise her pay of £17,000 a year should have been £9,500.
Mrs Keenan, a mother of two, spent the money - and used her erroneous payslips to apply for a mortgage.
When Barclays accountants finally uncovered their mistake, they asked her to repay more than £20,000.
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But she refused and took the dispute to an industrial tribunal where she insisted that she was worth every penny of the money she was given.
Mrs Keenan told a hearing in Ashford, Kent, that she originally earned £9,500 a year working for the Woolwich building society. When the business was taken over by Barclays three years ago she was assured she would receive a 'significant' pay rise.
She said that when she received a new contract stating she would be paid £17,000 a year, she assumed this was the pay rise she had been promised.
Mrs Keenan said she had received regular pay rises, including a £3,000 performance-related bonus.
And she revealed how she used a work reference to obtain a new credit card and secure a mortgage on her three-bedroomed family house in Erith, Kent, which she shares with husband Brent, 31, and their children Leo, four, and 14- month-old Sunny. The couple are now expecting their third child.
Mrs Keenan said: 'If I had realised they had made a mistake with my salary which could be spotted at any time, I wouldn't have put my family's future at risk and used it to apply for a mortgage. I certainly wouldn't have asked Barclays for a reference.
'I clearly stated my salary when I applied for a Barclaycard. I have repeatedly allowed Barclays staff access to my account.My manager and team leader must have known what I was getting paid. If it was a mistake, how did it take three years for them to notice?'
She added: 'I work in customer complaints, so I know about the tens of thousands in compensation Barclays pays out to customers each year because of administrative errors. But as soon as they spot an error that affects a loyal member of staff like me, their attitude changes and I'm thrown to the wolves.'
Barclays claims the £17,000 salary was for full-time employment and says that as a part-timer Mrs Keenan should have been paid on a proportional basis, an amount of £9,500 a year.
It says she should have realised a mistake had been made. But Mrs Keenan said she believed £17,000 was 'reasonable' and claimed that full-time colleagues were earning more than £25,000 for the same job.
Barclays has now withdrawn its initial demand that Mrs Keenan repay the £20,000 'extra' she was paid, but she is fighting the bank's attempt to reduce her salary.
The tribunal panel reserved its verdict and will give a ruling next month.
Yesterday, specialist employment lawyer John Quigley said Mrs Keenan's situation will be familiar to anyone who has had money paid into their bank account in error or who has erroneously received a bonus from their employer.
In these cases, the person is normally obliged to hand the extra money back. However, they can keep it if they can prove two things: that they have spent the cash on something they cannot get their money back on, and that they did not realise it was given to them in error.
Barclays bank worker paid double in error for three years