Man who quit Job after accidentally receiving paycheck 300 times his salary wins court case against employer’s attempt to reclaim funds

A Chilean office worker who resigned after accidentally receiving a paycheck over 300 times his usual monthly salary, has won a court case after his employer tried to recover the money.

The man, who worked as an assistant at food company Dan Consorcio Industrial de Alimentos de Chile, usually earned around 500,000 pesos (£386) a month.

But in May 2022, his employer accidentally deposited 165 million pesos, worth about £127,000, into his account.

The firm claimed he initially agreed to return the cash during a meeting with HR.

However, three days later, he handed in his resignation, triggering a legal fight that dragged on for three years.

Managers accused him of theft, a charge that could have seen him fined and jailed for up to 540 days. 

But a judge in Santiago dismissed the case, ruling it was not theft but ‘unauthorised collection,’ which meant it was not a crime for the court to prosecute.

The company says it remains determined to recover the funds. 

‘We will take all possible legal steps, particularly an application for annulment, to have the ruling reviewed,’ it said in a statement to Diario Financiero.