Chilean man accidentally paid 330 times his monthly salary, he quits job & wins lawsuit against bosses who wanted the money back

A food company assistant in Chile was mistakenly paid 165 million pesos (S$222,090), about 330 times his usual monthly salary of around 500,000 pesos (S$673).

He then quit his job, sparking a legal dispute with his former employers who tried to get him to return the money.

Three years later, he won the lawsuit and kept the cash.

Mistake leads to resignation

According to Daily Mail, the man was mistakenly paid the wrongful amount in May 2022, but initially agreed to return the cash during a meeting with the firm's HR, the company claimed.

Instead, he resigned from his position three days later, leading to the firm suing him for theft.

Under Chilean law, the charge could have seen him fined and jailed for up to 540 days.

The lawsuit dragged on for three years, but ended with the court ruling that the man had not committed theft but "unauthorised collection", which was not a crime punishable in court.

He got off scot-free, but his former employers said they are determined to recover the funds.

"We will take all possible legal steps, particularly an application for annulment, to have the ruling reviewed," the firm told Chilean economic newspaper Diario Financiero.

Top image via Canva