Employee paid 300 times his salary wins court battle to keep the money: Report

A worker won a court case after being accidentally paid 300 times his salary

A Chilean office assistant who unexpectedly received a payment 300 times higher than his monthly salary has won a legal battle to keep the money.

A worker quit his job after being paid 300 times his salary and later won a court battle that ruled the payment was not theft.(Representational image/Unsplash)

The employee, who worked for the food company Dan Consorcio Industrial de Alimentos de Chile, usually earned £386 a month. However, according to a report by the Metro, in May 2022 he was mistakenly transferred £127,000.

Initially, the company claimed the worker had agreed to return the money. But just three days later, he resigned from his position, setting off a legal fight that would stretch over three years.

Judge rules against theft charge

The case was closely followed in Santiago, where prosecutors accused the former employee of theft. A judge, however, dismissed the claim, ruling that the incident amounted to what was termed an “unauthorised collection” rather than theft.

This legal nuance meant the court could not prosecute the matter as a crime, although it left the company without a clear way to force repayment.

Company vows further action

Despite the ruling, executives at Dan Consorcio Industrial de Alimentos have insisted they are not giving up. In a statement issued to Diario Financiero, the firm declared: “We will take all possible legal steps, particularly an application for annulment, to have the ruling reviewed.”

The company is said to be determined to recover the funds, even though the court’s interpretation makes the path forward far more difficult.

Another workplace controversy

The unusual case follows another headline-grabbing story in the United Kingdom involving workplace misconduct. A police officer in Durham was recently accused of deceiving his supervisors while working from home.

Detective Constable Niall Thubron, 33, allegedly engaged in what was described as “key jamming” — pressing down a single keyboard key to give the impression that he was working. According to the disciplinary hearing, he jammed his keyboard 28 times over twelve days in an effort to appear productive.

He was found guilty of gross misconduct, and the panel concluded that he would have been dismissed had he not already stepped down from Durham Police in May.