Microsoft overpays severance
Gimme that - Microsoft is demanding that an accidental overpayment in severance packages be returned within fourteen days.
According to TechCrunch, the company has started sending out letters to an unknown quantity of the 1,400 employees it has laid off recently asking for an accidental overpayment in their severance packages to be returned.
The letters – a copy of which has been posted by one recipient to Scribd.com – describes the problem as resulting from an “inadvertent administrative error [which] resulted in an overpayment in severance pay by Microsoft.” Rather than accepting the overpayment as an honest mistake and a parting bonus for the ex-Microsofties, the company's payroll department goes on to explain that the recipients must “follow these repayment instructions” to return the money to Microsoft in the form of a “check [sic] or money order […] within fourteen (14) days.”
The company is receiving flak not only for having the temerity to demand the return of severance payments, but for not including the calculations which would explain exactly where the error occurred. Recipients of the letter are instead expected to either take Microsoft's word for it or to call the payroll department directly – a department which was, obviously, closed for the weekend by the time most of the recipients had read the letters.
So far there has been no reports of an official statement from Microsoft on the matter, either publicly or in response to complaints from the recipients of the demand.
Do you believe that a company as big as Microsoft should have swallowed the loss resulting from the overpayment, or are the ex-employees simply trying to hang on to money which they are not due? Share your thoughts over in the forums.
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17 Comments
Discuss in the forums ReplyAnyway, I think that this is a really cheap thing of Microsoft to do, fine to say "oops we screwed up" but then let them keep it as a bonus, or maybe to put them in a better light "we have given you more than we needed to to say thanks for all the hard work you put in"
calculations should have been on the original letter-this makes microsoft's case worse
they can ask for the money but the employees are not obliged to repay it. ms has the right to bring them to court (if it wants) but it is very unlikely a judge would side in ms's favour as the employee has no idea what they are suppposed to get in severence (its different with salary/wages as youll know your hourly rate or annual salary and should see an overpayment)
ms will just have to right it off as a bad debt
Well, that is totally wrong. At least in my family's experience. The tax man has made several mistakes in the time he has been claiming my family's taxes, and all of those times it has fallen on my mother to find the money and pay it back. We are often talking a month to get together £1500, when we are already in debt and overdrawn. We were never sent any calculations (although I agree we should have), and every single person we went to (accountants and lawyers) said that it was tough **** and they just had us by the balls. We had no choice but to fork it over.
I know it's easy to hate on big companies, but let me play Devil's advocate here; You are all saying that MS should suck up and just let them have the money as a bonus, since everyone is facing hard times. Well, the "economic crisis" is not restricted to the customer. We have seen companies go bust all over the world, including my dearest Woolworth's right here in the UK.
Now, it is no doubt cruel to send people extra money before realising you sent too much, but it is Microsoft's money by right, and they should have every right to expect it back as well. They are getting hit just as hard as us, and businesses don't survive by playing the good samaritan and being everybody's friend. And that's even at the best of economic climates.
I think 2 weeks is an atrocious amount of time to expect somoene to get the money together, as this could in a lot of cases be a lot of money which has already been spent. But people can't just play dumb their whole life. At least some of the people who got extra money should realise that they have received (much?) more than they expected.
they can ask for it back and maybe bring the person to court but they arent legally allowed to demand it or take it back
the tax man is different tho, the tax man has the right to take the money back
the tax issue is a completely different thing, its your responsibility to make sure your paying the right amount of tax. the legislation on what tax you should be paying is available to you so is your responibility. like you have the choice of paye or self assement, u cant just self ases and then say woops i got it wrong hard luck, or woops my accountant fecked up and the same rule applies to PAYE. ur example is probably somethin different but this is the basics of the thinking
I wasn't necessarily saying MS was backed by the law, but more along the lines of it is meant to be in their possession. Obviously, me and the law are at odds, because the way I see it is accidents happen, and whoever the money rightfully belongs to has the right to have it back, given that they are not overly forceful about it and give an adequete time frame. This should apply to both the government and business, as it is only fair in my eyes.
I do not think it right for M$ now to demand this money back. Assuming that these people were laid off and not leaving willingly, then the company already screwed them once. Now the company is screwing them again.
Have a f'n heart Gates and eat the cost.
One must wonder about the actual sums they are talking about, and I wonder if we'll ever know!
thousand more than they should can keep it.