Employee who received 300 times his salary by mistake wins legal right to keep money

A Chilean man who left his job after receiving a payment 300 times more than his normal salary has won a legal case allowing him to keep the money.

The man, employed as an assistant at Dan Consorcio Industrial de Alimentos de Chile, was paid around 386 per month. In May 2022, however, his employer transferred 127,000 to his account by mistake, Metro reports.

According to company representatives, he initially promised to return the funds but instead resigned just three days later. What followed was a three-year legal battle in which the employee was accused of theft. A court in Santiago has now ruled that the act constituted “unauthorised collection” rather than theft.

Because of this distinction, the judge determined that the case could not be prosecuted as a criminal offence. The compa