A Chilean office worker accidentally received an equivalent of 330 times the monthly salary, but managed to keep the money after resigning.
His monthly working income was usually around 500,000 pesos (about 3,700 yuan). but once, he was lucky enough to get his salary, and his boss imprudently transferred 1,65 billion pesos (about 1.2 million yuan) into his account.
Initially, the company claimed he agreed to return the money in consultation with HR. But three days later, the employee handed in his resignation. However, the boss went after him, sparking a three-year legal battle. The managers charged him with theft, which could result in a fine and a maximum sentence of 540 days in prison.
However, the employee was lucky. A judge in San Diego rejected the case and ruled that it wasn’t actually theft. The case was identified as “unauthorized receipt,” meaning that it wasn’t a crime that the court could prosecute.
But the company is still determined to return the money and we will take all possible legal measures, in particular to apply for the revocation of the verdict, to reconsider the verdict,” the company told the media.
Earlier, an employment court ruled that calling a boss an "idiot" did not constitute a fire warrant. The court said that if said was made "on impulse", it did not necessarily constitute serious misconduct.
The case stemmed from a meeting in 2022 when office manager Kerry Herbert had an emotional outburst. She fears she will be fired from the construction company. When someone mentioned her job performance problems, she started crying.
The Cambridge County Court was informed that she then said, “If someone else in the office was in my place, they would have long since left because of these things that happened in the office, but it was because of you two idiots that I stayed.”
Her boss responded, "Don't call me a damn idiot, and don't call my wife that. That's enough, you're fired. Pack up your stuff and fuck off."
Herbert said she asked the boss if he really wanted to fire her, and the boss said, “Yes, I’ve fired you, now roll.”
Herbert’s contract stipulates that she can be fired if she uses insulting language without prior warning. She filed a lawsuit for unfair dismissal and received £29129 in compensation and legal fees.