Microsoft did an about-face on Monday and decided former employees that were overpaid in their severance package could keep the extra cash. The company had previously sent letters to 25 of the 1,400 people it let go in January asking them to return some of their severance pay.
According to the Associated Press, Microsoft senior vice president for human resources, Lisa Brummel, found out about the letters after one appeared on TechCrunch. "I decided it didn't quite feel right," she said, and called the laid-off employees herself to tell them not to return the money.
Microsoft apparently overpaid some employees for their severance packages thanks to a miscalculation on the company's part. The letters went out to only about 25 the 1,400 employees that were laid off, and it requested that the money be returned to Microsoft within two weeks.
The mix up was caused by a clerical error, according to Ms. Brummel. "We had payments misaligned with people's names," she said. There's no word on which accounting package Microsoft used to make sure its former employees were properly paid.