Shark Bait

Knowledge Centers

Operating Systems

Networking & Internet

Mobile & Wireless

Security

Storage

Business Intelligence

Servers & Data Center

Computerworld Reports

Industry

See your link here

Preston Gralla

Seeing Through Windows

Microsoft to laid-off workers: Ooops...keep the severance

5 comments

TAGS:Microsoft, severance
IT TOPICS:Careers, Desktop Applications, Enterprise Software & Services, Operating Systems, Software, Windows & Microsoft

Microsoft won't be asking laid-off workers to pay it back severance pay that the company accidentally overpaid them. It's nice to see a major corporation do the right thing, especially in these tough times.

As I recently blogged, Microsoft sent letters to some of its 1,400 recently laid-off workers to pay back some of their severance pay because the company had accidentally overpaid them.

In the midst of the worst economic meltdown since the Great Depression, such a letter was clearly very bad news to the recipients. Today, though, Computerworld reports that Microsoft told the the employees they can keep the money. The magazine says that Lisa Brummel, the senior vice president of human resources for Microsoft said:

"In the normal course of business, we may underpay or overpay in a bonus situation. If we overpay, we ask that the money be returned. Severance is not unlike that. But this is a unique time and our normal practice didn't make sense."

Brummel said that 25 people were overpaid, with most overpayments ranging between $4,000 and $5,000, but with a few larger overpayments. The total overpayment was between $100,000 and $125,000, she said.

There's only one thing to say here: Kudos to Microsoft for doing the right thing.

Email this

Digg this

What People Are Saying

Add new comment

"It's nice to see a major

Submitted by Hugh on March 3, 2009 - 3:33 A.M.

"It's nice to see a major corporation do the right thing, especially in these tough times."

Microsoft only care about themselves, and they *never* do anything because it is "the right thing to do". The only reason they have back-tracked on this is that they have belatedly realised what a PR disaster it was going to turn into (they're not very bright, are they?).

We have had the Vista debacle, a laughable "advertising campaign" trying to address same, and now Microsoft are busy suing TomTom over alleged "patent infringement", where none of the so-called "patents" have any merit whatsoever.

So Microsoft is a company that doesn't understand software, marketing or PR, and has concluded that it can only make money by abusing the fundamentally broken patent and legal systems in the U.S. Is there a more clueless crowd anywhere in the world? Is there a less moral mob anywhere? Microsoft is a dead company trading, and their well-deserved end can't come soon enough.

Reply | Report this comment

Microsoft calculations

Submitted by Anonymous on February 24, 2009 - 8:30 P.M.

Aside from looking like insensitive jerks, you have to wonder about the PR consequences of Microsoft not being able to accurately calculate severance payments.

Reply | Report this comment

More at IT Blogwatch

Submitted by IT Blogwatch on February 24, 2009 - 12:53 P.M.

There's more on this story in IT Blogwatch.

Reply | Report this comment

Are you kidding? Should you

Submitted by Steve K. on February 24, 2009 - 11:56 A.M.

Are you kidding? Should you eat the $125,000 error, or pursue money from your previously "valued" employees whose lives have now just been turned upside down, and then have 100,000,000 of your customers read about what kind of insensitive jerks you are....

Hmmmmm, seems like a no-brainer to me in the very first place.

Reply | Report this comment

No, MS Was Right the First Time

Submitted by Anonymous on February 24, 2009 - 12:09 A.M.

I object to Microsoft giving away shareholders' money like that. It makes sense to demand people return money that isn't really theirs.

I understand *why* this is being done -- it's a no-win situation for them because we live in an entitlement culture. Well, wrong pronoun. Some of you people do. I don't. It won't buy them much PR from those who get priapisms when they see penguins. Haters.

Reply | Report this comment