A worker resigned from his job after receiving a payment 330 times his usual salary and successfully defended his right to keep the money in a legal battle. The employee, employed at the Consorcio Industrial de Alimentos de Chile, mistakenly received 165 million Chilean pesos (£126,860) instead of his regular 500,000 pesos (£385) in May 2022 due to an error made by the company. Following the discovery of the error, the company requested the individual, who served as an office assistant, to return the funds, alleging that he had agreed to do so during a meeting with the human resources department.
Nevertheless, the worker tendered his resignation three days later without repaying the amount. Subsequently, the corporation filed a lawsuit against him, accusing him of theft, leading to a three-year legal dispute. If found guilty of theft, the employee could have faced fines and a potential jail term of up to 540 days. However, in September, judges in Santiago, Chile, dismissed the allegations, stating that the act was not theft but an instance of “unauthorized collection.”
Since the court did not consider the incident a theft, it lacked jurisdiction to pursue the matter, as reported by Diario Financiero. Despite the court ruling in favor of the worker, the company announced its intention to challenge the decision in a bid to recover the funds. In a statement, the Food Industrial Consortium expressed its determination to explore all legal avenues, particularly seeking an appeal for annulment to review the case.
Meanwhile, a separate incident emerged involving a teacher in Germany who took sick leave for 16 years while receiving her full salary of £48,000 without the school’s knowledge. The biology and geography teacher went on leave in August 2009 due to underlying health issues, but the required medical assessments were never conducted, resulting in the automatic renewal of her sick leave for nearly two decades.
Reports suggest that the teacher earned between €5,051 (£4,369) and €6,174 (£5,341) monthly. The oversight continued unnoticed until a management change in 2024 prompted an internal audit, revealing the long-standing anomaly. Dorothee Feller, the education minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, expressed astonishment at the case and announced plans for a comprehensive evaluation of the teacher’s health status.