An unusual situation happened recently in Chile: it is a missing worker after receiving 330 times your wage. Initially, the boy reported the situation to his boss, but since then he has not been seen.
Read more: Will permanent aid continue?
see more
Companies in Portugal will start paying BRL 5,000 to interns, from…
2023, the year of federal contests: more than 4,400 vacancies announced
Worker accidentally received 330 times his salary and then disappeared
The worker, who until then was a dispatch assistant for a manufacturer of cold cuts called Consórcio Industrial de Alimony, received a paycheck in the amount of 165,398,851 Chilean pesos, or US$180,418, for the month of May. However, his salary should only have been around 500,000 Chilean pesos, or $545.
The man alerted his manager about the large payment as soon as he realized the mistake, according to local newspaper Diário Financeiro. From there, the manager reported the situation to the company's human resources, who asked the worker to go to the bank and return the excess amount.
The worker agreed to go to the bank the next day to return the money, but he did not show up and proceeded to ignore his employer's communications for the next few days.
Subsequently, the man requested his resignation through a letter sent to the company through his lawyer. The worker has not been heard from since. With that, the company filed a complaint against him with the allegation of embezzlement, but there has been no arrest so far.
Does the worker really need to return the amount received in excess?
Firstly, in this type of situation, it is important for the company to contact the bank to ensure that the cause of the payment in excess is not related to bank errors, because in these cases, who needs to recover the money is the financial institution, not the company.
On the other hand, when an employer overpays its employees, either because of an error in the human and financial resources or other issues, the employee needs to return what was paid in excess.
What cannot happen under any circumstances is the employee refusing to make the return, as this act is part of an illegal action, called “illicit enrichment”, which is an increase in personal assets without declaration to the competent body or just cause, and which can lead the worker to prison.
