TechCrunch reports:

Talk about adding insult to injury. Apparently Microsoft has inadvertently overpaid severance to some of its recently laid off employees, and is now asking for some of the money back. It’s unclear how many of the 1,400 employees laid off last month were affected, but we’ve confirmed that it wasn’t a single isolated incident (we’ve contacted Microsoft for a response). We’re also hearing that some employees may have been underpaid as well.

Eli Sanders was The Stranger's associate editor. His book, "While the City Slept," was a finalist for the Washington State Book Award and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. He once did this and once won...

14 replies on “Um, About That Severence…”

  1. Which must suck, because anybody who got overpaid will most likely NEED to give it back, if they ever want a shot at working for MS again.

    In this economic environment, I’m guessing most people wouldn’t want to burn that particular bridge right now.

  5. Maybe they can ask them to buy a Windows Netbook for $600 instead of a Linux one for $300 and split the difference?

    Word on the street is Netbooks caused the layoffs, cause who’s going to pay $200+ for Win7 or Vista when the raw machine sells for around $250 to $300 …

  8. “Hey man, yeah this is Microsoft. So um, looks like even though Bill Gates has around, um, like 40 Billion dollars, and that Microsoft is worth Billions…..yeahhhh we’re gonna need that $1,000 back cause we overpaid you”

    *AWKWARDDDDDDD*

  10. I agree that getting money back from laid off workers is awkward and this should never have happened…but I’m curious about whether this is a case of a) Microsoft authorized higher severance payments than should have been allowed or b) laid off workers were told they were getting a certain amount in severance and their actual checks were greater than that. If it’s A, microsoft is being extremely douchey. If it’s B – well, again, they should have had oversight protocols preventing it from happening but the people who got the inflated checks should have known they would likely have to give back what wasn’t part of their separation agreement.

  11. @9: Yes they are legally obligated to give the money back. An error in your favor doesn’t give you the moral authority to keep it.

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