Teachers from Hlybokaye Made to Return Part of Wages

Teachers of school No. 1 in the town of Hlybokaye came to a general meeting at the beginning of September and learnt that they owe money to the education department.

It turned out that they had been overpaid during the previous school year. The teachers were asked to return the money, onliner.by reports.

“Our salary wasn't high. We received 3.8-4 million rubles,” a teacher says. “The staff is about 60 people. We gathered for the general meeting and the deputy headmaster said an audit at the district education department revealed we had been overpaid. Some owe 400,000 rubles, some owe 5 million. I am among those few lucky employees who don't have to pay anything. Some have already paid. I wonder why we have to pay for someone else's mistakes.”

The department of labour, employment and social protection of the Hlybokaye district executive committee explains the situation.

“Yes, the control and auditing department checked the education department,” officials say. “They found errors in payroll calculation. What can I say to teachers? Under article 107 of the Labour Code, the wages overpaid to the employee, including if they were paid due to the misuse of law, cannot be recovered from the employee except in case of a calculation error. They must figure out why the teachers were overpaid. If it was a calculation error, the teachers will have to return money. If it was a human error, they may choose not to pay, but those responsible for the mistake must answer for it.”