Legal advice - Re: company expenses

avg13

Hi, i think im in a bit of bother - 1 joined my company in 2005 when Ireland was officially km and when i was given my monthly expenses report which states a mileage rate i was told it was in fact km by a colleague here no longer and since Ireland is in km and my previous company expenses was in km i didn't question it further. I did check the company ISO procedures and staff policy book and it didn't mention the expenses at all - hence why i asked a colleague.

fast forward 10yrs and after all this time of having my expenses signed off each month by a director - they are now questioning the rate and realized its km not miles and will my employer is fuming. But I'm aware of others that claim expenses in km and in fact one fellow employee was confronted about this item a few years ago and my employer backed down and he still claims in kms. i suppose i'm asking am i in trouble.
Can i be forced to pay this money back ? Given no company procedures clarify this item or even reference it. and that all my expenses sheets to date have been counter signed by a director ?

any advice would be great.... and yes asking a director 10yrs ago for clarification would have been great in hindsight but i was new and thought a senior colleague wouldn't give false advice especially since they'd been there yrs.

Thank you in advance.

billy few mates

Not 'legal advice' but unless they're asking you to submit your claim in punts as well I would suggest the correct units of measurement should be the standard unit of measurement, in this case km.
Presumably your car speedo is also in km...?

Do you have a company handbook that tells you how to submit your claims...?
Are there two figures for km/mileage allowances..?
ie 75c per mile or 55c per km for example....?
If so, are they suggesting you claimed the miles rate but submitted you km figures...?

avg13

company hand book states nothing about expenses for travel ...both my cars I've had over the past 10yrs have been in km not miles.

They are suggesting i damn well knew it should have been a expenses rate was for miles and not kms like i claimed.

I've my expenses going back 10yrs and my paperwork from the initial part of my employment states distance and petrol unit rate... but that was my own spreadsheet since the company didn't had anything of that sort on file for staff.

avg13

I would say that when its been talked about between senior staff in recent times .... all its a km rate not mile rate as the figure is not even in line with our industry standard or the revenue site.
I am very worried about this....i know of at least 2 current staff members that use a km rate in their expenses. seemingly the director in question is reviewing all staff expenses now.

nuac

I presume your monthly expenses claim stated the distance travelled.

Was there an agreed rate per KM or per mile?

Whoever signed off on y our expenses had the option of checking them.

imho that is that, unless they claim some of the journeys never took place

realdanbreen

avg13 wrote: »

Hi, i think im in a bit of bother - 1 joined my company in 2005 when Ireland was officially km and when i was given my monthly expenses report which states a mileage rate i was told it was in fact km by a colleague here no longer and since Ireland is in km and my previous company expenses was in km i didn't question it further. I did check the company ISO procedures and staff policy book and it didn't mention the expenses at all - hence why i asked a colleague.

fast forward 10yrs and after all this time of having my expenses signed off each month by a director - they are now questioning the rate and realized its km not miles and will my employer is fuming. But I'm aware of others that claim expenses in km and in fact one fellow employee was confronted about this item a few years ago and my employer backed down and he still claims in kms. i suppose i'm asking am i in trouble.
Can i be forced to pay this money back ? Given no company procedures clarify this item or even reference it. and that all my expenses sheets to date have been counter signed by a director ?

any advice would be great.... and yes asking a director 10yrs ago for clarification would have been great in hindsight but i was new and thought a senior colleague wouldn't give false advice especially since they'd been there yrs.

Thank you in advance.

What kind of money are we talking about here per month?

draiochtanois

This post has been deleted.

imitation

Sounds like they don't have there act together, most companies I know pay in km. It should be stated clearly on a requst form and in any handbooks. Ultimately though if you are that concerned you should get an employment laywer.

CramCycle

avg13 wrote: »

Hi, i think im in a bit of bother - 1 joined my company in 2005 when Ireland was officially km and when i was given my monthly expenses report which states a mileage rate i was told it was in fact km by a colleague here no longer and since Ireland is in km and my previous company expenses was in km i didn't question it further. I did check the company ISO procedures and staff policy book and it didn't mention the expenses at all - hence why i asked a colleague.

Mileage rate is just a term for distance travelled and is not specifically in miles (unless the document says specifically "per mile"). It would generally be excepted as being in km.

Do you have a copy of the unit pay, surely at some point there was a mail or document from someone when you started saying "the mileage rate is ....", either they said per km or per mile or it is per distance unit travelled (accepted as km).

fast forward 10yrs and after all this time of having my expenses signed off each month by a director - they are now questioning the rate and realized its km not miles and will my employer is fuming. But I'm aware of others that claim expenses in km and in fact one fellow employee was confronted about this item a few years ago and my employer backed down and he still claims in kms. i suppose i'm asking am i in trouble.

Who has realised, surely the assumption is that it is km, if you are not the only one and it is widely accepted, I would not stress. The only reason they would kick up a fuss is if they want rid of someone and this would be a foolish way of doing it as the court appearance afterwards would cost far more.

Can i be forced to pay this money back ? Given no company procedures clarify this item or even reference it. and that all my expenses sheets to date have been counter signed by a director ?

Unless they can show that it was done intentionally, but seeing as a director signed of on it and others have told you the same, I can't see how.

any advice would be great.... and yes asking a director 10yrs ago for clarification would have been great in hindsight but i was new and thought a senior colleague wouldn't give false advice especially since they'd been there yrs.

You have said that you know of others using km, which would be the standard, so it doesn't sound like you were mislead.

Pat Mustard

avg13 wrote: »

Can i be forced to pay this money back ?

Mod:

Request for legal advice. Thread closed.