Employee gets 330 times salary and goes into hiding

Would you access? (Image: Adobe Stock – fotokita)

Most of us can probably hardly imagine what it must be like when this happens to us: 330 times more salary than usual. A lot comes together.

An employee at a meat processing company in Chile has accidentally been paid far more than expected, the Chilean financial magazine Diario Financiero first reported. Instead of the usual 500,000 Chilean pesos (about 550 euros), his account showed an impressive 165,398,851 pesos at the end of May – the equivalent of about 170,000 euros. Which one of you wouldn’t freak out?

honor among thieves

The unnamed employee actually responded directly and reported the incident to his supervisor at the distribution center. From there, the HR department was informed, who confirmed the error and asked the employee to refund the overpaid amount. The employee allegedly promised to do it the next day.

But things turned out differently than expected. The employee did not return the money and ignored both calls and WhatsApp messages from his employer Consorcio Industrial de Alimentos (CIAL) for a period of three days. Eventually he filed a notice of termination through his lawyer and has since been swallowed up by the earth.

The company has since filed a criminal complaint against the employee who is accused of embezzling funds. So far, however, no one has been arrested.

For CIAL Alimentos, this incident means not only a financial loss, but also the need to clarify the circumstances and take possible actions to improve internal processes.

What if I have too much money in my account?

Like the man, you should immediately inform your superior in a similar case. In Germany, according to § 812 BGB, the employer has a claim for return. That means: If you notice the mistake, you have to report it and return the excess money. If you don’t do this, there could be legal consequences.

This is especially true if the amount is so high that it needs to be noticed. In the case of CIAL, this is definitely the case. If it is »only« a matter of a few hundred euros, things could be different.

Would you still be at work the next day? How would you have reacted if you saw a much higher amount in your account than you expected? Write it to us in the comments!