Q: We have an employee who has overpaid their employee from Jan 2022 to date. The error apparently happened when the timesheet included the public holiday, but also in payroll software automatically generated the public holiday, therefore an error occurred, and the public holiday was effectively duplicated.
Could you please advise us whether our client can recover the overpayment from the employee?

A: Yes, the employer can by following the Wages Protection Act.  Does the employee have a deduction clause in their employment agreement stating they give the employer permission to recover an overpayment?

If yes they still need to contact the employee to tell them they plan to action the clause and recover the overpayment (amount and date it will be deducted).  But under the Wages Protection Act even if the employee provided written consent they can withdraw their consent and the employer would not be able to recover the overpayment.