[UK] Fresh criticism for Asda as it claims back staff overpayments

In the UK, supermarket giant Asda is receiving fresh criticism for claiming back overpayments made to staff when the implementation of a new IT system in March led to extensive payroll errors affecting thousands of employees’ pay, The Grocer reports.

The Grocer had access to a briefing document for Asda managers that set a deadline of May 28 for staff to agree to a repayment plan. The union GMB stated this was unfair because employees are entitled to dispute any overpayment.

According to the document, failing to agree to a plan by this deadline would result in the money being taken in a lump sum from June wages. GMB reportedly said this could amount to thousands of pounds being deducted.

The Grocer was first to report the IT problems – which also resulted in thousands of underpayments – on the first payday following Asda’s implementation of the new system.

Asda has claimed that the number of pay queries has broadly returned to pre-implementation levels; significantly falling in April and May.

The May 13 briefing document, however, reveals that the supermarket continues to work through four types of overpayment errors, including payment for more holiday than staff were entitled to and duplicate payments for the same holiday period.

In some cases, a top-up payment intended to make up any shortfall resulting from the IT changeover was also overpaid.

Employees overpaid by more than £30 were given until May 28 to complete a repayment plan form to avoid the entire sum being taken at once.

“We’re saying that’s not fair,” Nadine Houghton - GMB union national officer - said. “What if the colleague doesn’t agree they’ve been overpaid and would like more evidence?

“Asda could end up deducting what could be in some cases thousands of pounds.”

An Asda spokesman said, “Asda employs over 150,000 colleagues and the vast majority have been paid as normal in each pay run following the move to a new HR system in March.

“We did have some issues in the March payroll and took proactive steps to ensure these colleagues were not underpaid by matching their pay to their previous month’s earnings.

“We continue to support colleagues with repayment plans of up to 12 months for those who were overpaid.”

Ms Houghton stated that the IT issues were ultimately a result of Asda’s 2021 change of ownership. “TDR Capital own Asda now, and the reason they had to transition onto the new system is they were paying Walmart a lot of money to stay on the old one,” she said.

“If they had slowed the transitioning onto the new system down, we think some of this could have been avoided.”

Asda reportedly said that TDR Capital was not involved in the day-to-day running of the business and had not been involved in the rollout of the new payroll system. It claimed that the implementation of the new Asda systems, following the ownership change, was costing the business more than £800m and, therefore, that any suggestion it was cutting corners due cost was incorrect. 

Source: The Grocer

(Link and quotes via original reporting)

In the UK, supermarket giant Asda is receiving fresh criticism for claiming back overpayments made to staff when the implementation of a new IT system in March led to extensive payroll errors affecting thousands of employees’ pay, The Grocer reports.

The Grocer had access to a briefing document for Asda managers that set a deadline of May 28 for staff to agree to a repayment plan. The union GMB stated this was unfair because employees are entitled to dispute any overpayment.

According to the document, failing to agree to a plan by this deadline would result in the money being taken in a lump sum from June wages. GMB reportedly said this could amount to thousands of pounds being deducted.

The Grocer was first to report the IT problems – which also resulted in thousands of underpayments – on the first payday following Asda’s implementation of the new system.

Asda has claimed that the number of pay queries has broadly returned to pre-implementation levels; significantly falling in April and May.

The May 13 briefing document, however, reveals that the supermarket continues to work through four types of overpayment errors, including payment for more holiday than staff were entitled to and duplicate payments for the same holiday period.

In some cases, a top-up payment intended to make up any shortfall resulting from the IT changeover was also overpaid.

Employees overpaid by more than £30 were given until May 28 to complete a repayment plan form to avoid the entire sum being taken at once.

“We’re saying that’s not fair,” Nadine Houghton - GMB union national officer - said. “What if the colleague doesn’t agree they’ve been overpaid and would like more evidence?

“Asda could end up deducting what could be in some cases thousands of pounds.”

An Asda spokesman said, “Asda employs over 150,000 colleagues and the vast majority have been paid as normal in each pay run following the move to a new HR system in March.

“We did have some issues in the March payroll and took proactive steps to ensure these colleagues were not underpaid by matching their pay to their previous month’s earnings.

“We continue to support colleagues with repayment plans of up to 12 months for those who were overpaid.”

Ms Houghton stated that the IT issues were ultimately a result of Asda’s 2021 change of ownership. “TDR Capital own Asda now, and the reason they had to transition onto the new system is they were paying Walmart a lot of money to stay on the old one,” she said.

“If they had slowed the transitioning onto the new system down, we think some of this could have been avoided.”

Asda reportedly said that TDR Capital was not involved in the day-to-day running of the business and had not been involved in the rollout of the new payroll system. It claimed that the implementation of the new Asda systems, following the ownership change, was costing the business more than £800m and, therefore, that any suggestion it was cutting corners due cost was incorrect. 

Source: The Grocer

(Link and quotes via original reporting)