It sounds like the plot of a workplace comedy: you open your bank account expecting a modest monthly wage and instead find a life changing sum staring back at you.
For one employee, this unbelievable scenario became reality when a payroll error handed him hundreds of times his usual salary.
What followed was a disappearing act, a resignation, and a legal battle that left his former employer stunned.
And in the final twist, a judge ruled he didn’t have to return a single peso.
A salary slip that defied all logic
The story begins in May 2022, when a distribution assistant at a large Chilean food group checked his bank account and noticed a number that simply couldn’t be right: over 165 million Chilean pesos, roughly the equivalent of 172,000 euros. His actual salary? About 500,000 pesos — around 522 euros. In other words, 330 times more than he was meant to earn.
Most of us, upon spotting such an error, would rub our eyes, maybe refresh the page, and then brace ourselves for the inevitable correction. And to his credit, he initially did the right thing. He informed his manager, who assured the company that the overpayment would be returned promptly.
When the unexpected windfall becomes a vanishing act
What happened next could be lifted straight from a film script. After promising to visit the bank and send the excess money back, the employee simply vanished. For three days, he stopped responding to messages and was nowhere to be found.
Then came the real twist: instead of an apology or a bank receipt, the company received his resignation — delivered not by him, but by his lawyer.
It’s a move that left his former employer baffled and furious. One HR director once told me that payroll errors are “a nightmare even when everyone cooperates”. In this case, cooperation was clearly not on the agenda.
A courtroom shock for the employer
Fast forward to 8 September 2025, when the highly anticipated court hearing finally took place. The company fully expected justice to lean in their favour — after all, the money had been transferred in error, and the employee had knowingly kept it.
But the magistrate ruled otherwise. The worker was acquitted, a result that stunned the company, which publicly announced its intention to pursue every possible legal avenue, including a nullity appeal, to overturn the decision.
Legal experts often point out that rules around payroll errors vary widely by country. In France, for instance, employers generally have up to three years to reclaim an overpayment, according to guidance referenced by the Ministry of Labour. When the employee is still working for the company, such matters can usually be handled informally. This Chilean case, however, was anything but informal.
When an error becomes a fortune
Stories like this raise all sorts of uncomfortable questions about responsibility, ethics and the boundaries of employment law. Should an employee be allowed to keep money they know was transferred by mistake?
Most people would instinctively say no — yet court decisions, especially in complex jurisdictions, don’t always align with intuition.
For the company, the financial blow is significant. For the employee, the overpayment turned into a once-in-a-lifetime windfall. And for anyone who has ever complained about payroll being a little slow, this tale is a reminder that precision, trust, accountability, and clear processes matter far more than we sometimes realise.
The company may continue its legal fight, but for now, the employee walks away not only free of charges — but significantly richer.
