Microsoft Asks 1,400 laid-off workers to return some of their Severants Pay

Over 1,400 Microsoft workers that were laid off on January 22nd received some more bad news. It turns out because of a slight accounting "Administrative Error" oversight some people were given too much of a servants pay when they left and Microsoft wants it back.

(image found on PCworld)
"The letter from Microsoft to its redundant employees, asking for part of the severance money back. The letter was obtained by TechCrunch and a Microsoft spokesperson certified its authenticity.

The letter surfaced on the Internet this weekend and Microsoft claims that an "inadvertent administrative error" caused this situation. Microsoft did not confirm how many people were affected by the overpayments but "there was certainly more than one," a company spokesperson said.

However, on the other side of the spectrum, some laid-off workers were been underpaid in their severance and Microsoft claims that it is "taking care of underpayments." Microsoft declined any further comment, saying this is a "private matter between the company and the affected people."

Microsoft paid the laid-off staffers a minimum of 60 days salary and additional compensation based on the length of their service. In January Microsoft announced that another 3600 jobs will be cut over the next 18 months. This totals 5000 jobs, or 5 percent of Microsoft's total workforce."

Wow, talk about going from bad to worse for some people.

Microsoft Asks Laid-off Workers to Return Overpaid Severance (PCworld)
Ex-Microsoft workers may not have to return severance pay (Computer World)
Microsoft has to hit up laid-off workers for money (Associated Press)